TREES

December 02, 2024

Last week my browser featured an effort sponsored by the UN that received designation as a Flagship project. The Flagship award is part of an effort by the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration to ensure that measurable progress is made on the UN’s environmental goals by 2030. When Africa’s fertile terrains become drylands, farmers are thrown into poverty and biodiversity shrinks. Trees for the Future (TREES) is successfully reversing this trend by assisting hundreds of thousands of smallholder farmers in several African countries to fight soil degradation, biodiversity loss, and climate change. TREES has restored 102,165.72 acres (41,345 ha) since 2014. The restoration supports over 50,000 households and captures 382.5 tons (347 metric tons) of CO2 per hectare through its model, the equivalent of emissions from over 26,420 gallons (100,000 liters) of diesel fuel. Restoration of the drylands helps increase the income and improve the health of farmers and their families. TREES is expecting to create 230,000 jobs by 2030 in Kenya, Mali, Senegal, Tanzania, and Uganda, and is recognized as one of the best large-scale ecosystem restoration efforts on the planet. Central to the TREES model is the creation of a series of structures known as a bund.

When I looked online, I found a bund, also known as a demi-lune or half-moon, is a rainwater harvesting technique consisting in digging semi-lunar holes in the ground with the opening perpendicular to the flow of water. The holes are oriented against the slope of the ground which generates a small dike in the curved area with the soil from the hole itself. The dikes capture the rainwater as it runs downhill, allows the water to seep into the subsoil, and prevents the loss of fertile soil by erosion. Semi-circular bunds are used to reforest arid zones with irregular rain patterns and allow the growth of plants and trees. The TREES initiative works closely with tens of thousands of farmers living in poverty on degraded lands following decades of unsustainable agriculture practices, deforestation, pollution, and climate change by providing training in a regenerative agroforestry technique called the Forest Garden Approach. In this four-year program, farmers receive training, seeds, and other resources, while planting thousands of trees and dozens of food and resource crops on their property. The small farmers typically own less than 2.5 acres (1 ha) of land.

TREES projects in Senegal and Mali are a part of the African Union’s initiative as part of the Great Green Wall. Elvis Tangem, Great Green Wall Initiative Coordinator, says, “Once it’s completed, the Great Green Wall will be the largest natural structure on the planet. It’s a massive undertaking, but the dedication and teamwork of organizations like TREES will ultimately make it a reality.” The Great Green Wall project was adopted by the African Union in 2007 to combat desertification in the Sahel region and hold back expansion of the Sahara Desert. The original dimensions of the “wall” were to be 9 miles (15 km) wide and 4,831 miles (7,775 km) long. The program has evolved to encompass nations in both northern and western Africa and promotes water harvesting techniques, greenery protection, and improving indigenous land use techniques, aimed at creating a mosaic of green and productive landscapes across North Africa.

THOUGHTS: TREES is recognized as one of the best examples of large-scale and long-term ecosystem restoration in any country or region, embodying the 10 Restoration Principles of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. The announcement was made ahead of the 6th UN Environment Assembly, held from February 26 to March 1, 2024. The Assembly convenes to address the triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste. This should represent an ongoing emphasis not just for the developing countries of Africa, but for the world. Act for all. Change is coming and it starts with you.