Photo credit: WVC 1990-07 Bois de la Fraternisation in Arbolle (Prov. Passoré, Burkina Faso)
Prof. Dr. Willem Van Cotthem (Univ. of Ghent, Belgium) showing the success of the reforestation project with the Canadian Cooperation, using the soil conditioner TerraCottem to grow trees without any irrigation.
VIDEO: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2n8vye
by Roland Brockman
Photo credit: WVC 1998-07
Burkina Faso – Arbolle – Project Reforestation TC-Dialogue Foundation Belgium 1988-1998 – Use of TerraCottem soil conditioner (Photo WVC 1998-07).
VIMEO: https://vimeo.com/53510702
OZG, our local planting partner, operates in an area that is part of the international “GREAT GREEN WALL” aiming at planting a contiguous “wall of trees” stretching 4,300 miles long and 9 miles wide, across the entire width of the African continent, involving 9 African nations.
OZG, an NGO established in Belgium and in Burkina Faso, is recognized by UNCCD for its pioneering approach and unique approach to addressing desertification.
Tree, grass and herb seeds are sown on the hard soil, where large half moons have been previously dug, enabling the June to September rains to be retained long enough for seed-sprouting and for the trees to develop long drought-resistant roots.
Village by village, local communities are engaged in collecting seeds and caring for the trees, transforming the bare land into a fertile, biologically diverse and productive forests, bringing livelihood to the region, empowering women who can then afford sending children to school.
How?
Planning for up to 4 million trees per annum, resulting in the restoration of 4000 ha per year in the northern provinces of Burkina Faso. The resulting density is roughly 1000 trees per ha, mainly with following drought resistant species: Acacia Raddiana, Acacia Nilotica, Acacia Albida, Acacia Seyal, Balanites Aegyptica, Ziziphus Mauritania.
Growing local awareness for sustainable practices, working with the local farmers and transhumant herders. Both men and women from adjoining villages are trained in sustainable agro-forestry practices. Drawing on local expertise, women select and collect the most suitable varieties of native tree and grass seeds, which they then sell to us.
Read the full article: WeForest
Photo credit: Agricultures Network
Crusted soils yield sorghum again after branches of camel’s foot are cut from the surrounding scrub and added as mulch. Photos: Georges Félix
Catching and holding the rain
Food production in Yilou, semi-arid Burkina Faso and in much of dryland Africa, is supported by only three to four months of rainfall each year. The main crops around Yilou are sorghum, cowpea, sesame, okra and other vegetables, hibiscus, and maize around the homesteads. But producing enough food to sustain family nutrition year round is an enormous challenge. Typically, farmers quickly prepare their land at the start of the rains in early June, plant by mid-June, and hope that the rains are abundant and evenly spread throughout the season.
As rainfall is short and intense, with only an average of 500-600 mm each year, minimising runoff and increasing infiltration are crucial. Also, the more soil is covered, more rain infiltrates and less will evaporate. And reducing runoff with physical barriers such as stone bunds and mulch has the added benefit of reducing soil erosion and sediment loss, an important step in rehabilitating degraded lands.
Read the full article: Agricultures Network
Photo credit: UN NEWS Centre
Drought has affected residents of the Mbera refugee camp, Mauritania, in the Sahel region of Africa.
Photo: WFP/Justin Smith
EXCERPT
The United Nations and its partners today launched an appeal for nearly $2 billion to provide vital humanitarian assistance to millions of people in nine countries across Africa’s Sahel region.
Some 145 million people in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Gambia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal live in a region that is constantly challenged by chronic food and malnutrition crises, and is vulnerable to climate change, droughts and unpredictable rainfall.
The Sahel humanitarian appeal for 2015, launched today in New York and totalling $1.96 billion, is part of a regional multi-year strategy to respond better to the chronic challenges in the region by emphasizing early intervention and forging closer partnerships with governments and development actors.
Over 20 million people in the region are short of food, 2.6 million of whom need life-saving food assistance now; and nearly six million children under the age of five are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition in 2015.
Violent conflict and insecurity have worsened over the last 12 months in many of the countries. As a result, 2.8 million people have been uprooted from their homes, over one million more than this time last year.
Read the full article: UN NEWS Centre
Photo credit: WVC 1997-12
Acacia nilotica in Bois de la Fraternisation (Arbolle, Prov. du Passore, Burkina Faso) – Reforestation project of TC-Dialogue Foundation (Belgium): trees planted in 1988 with soil conditioner TerraCottem
As the desert in West Africa’s Sahel region began growing faster than ever in the 1970s and 1980s and many farmers left the land, a farmer in a small town in northern Burkina Faso developed creative methods to restore soils damaged by drought. Yacouba Sawadogo innovated on regionally well-known farming techniques to create a large, easy-to-farm forested area, working with his community to reinvent agriculture in the region.
See the video: PBS Learning Media
Photo credit: WVC 1988-12
TC-Dialogue Foundation’s reforestation project in Arbolle
(Prov. du Passoré, Burkina Faso)
Context – Desertification is the persistent degradation of dryland ecosystems.
It threatens the livelihoods of some of the poorest and most vulnerable populations on the planet. Desertification is largely caused by unsustainable use of scarce resources.
What options exist to avoid or reverse desertification and its negative impacts?
This Digest is a faithful summary of the leading scientific consensus report produced in 2005 by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA): “Desertification Synthesis Report”
Read the full article: GreenFacts
Photo credit: Willemien – Committee Maastricht-Niou
Bois de la Fraternisation – Arbolle – Burkina Faso
Acacia nilotica planted in 1988 with soil conditioner TerraCottem
Reforestatiion Project of the Canadian Cooperation, Committee Maastricht-Niou and TC-Dialogue Foundation
At the start of September, with the support of ACTED’s teams the refugees and local population 8,000 new acacias and leucaenas next to the Ouré Cassoni camp of Sudanese refugees, in the East of Chad, to fight against the desertification.
The camp contributes to the already precarious environmental equilibrium of this particular zone, as the presence of the refugees increases the strain on the scarce natural resources.
Since 2007, to respond to this issue ACTED has created areas of reforestation and of fixation of sand dunes, within the framework of our activities supporting the Sudanese refugees of the camp.
This project will benefit both the refugees and the autochthones. These trees resist to the arid soils and will grow over 4 to 5 years and will be taken care of by the autochthonous and refugee populations.
Source: ACTED
DESERTIFICATION 
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