Livelihoods & Enterprises
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A eureka moment for the planet: we’re finally planting trees again
China plans to plant forests the size of Ireland. Latin American countries have pledged to restore 20m hectares of degraded forest and African countries more than 100m hectares. India is to plant 13m hectares, and on a single day last year 1.5 million people planted 66m trees in Madhya Pradesh alone. Trees make our lives better in unquantifiable […] Continue Reading
How climate-smart is the Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration method?
The method of restoring degraded lands efficiently contributes to climate change mitigation. Integrating trees in agricultural systems helps rural communities adapt to climate change, mitigate its impact and improve their livelihoods. Particularly for farmers in the Sahel, trees growing on agricultural land play an important role: they do not only prevent soil erosion but provide a wide range […] Continue Reading
Trees are much more than the lungs of the world (commentary)
There are two important answers to the question “why do we need more trees in farmland?” One is global and one is local. Globally, trees are often recognized as the ‘lungs of the world’ because they exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide with the atmosphere. However, this is an understatement. If we think in these terms, […] Continue Reading
How do you stop the desert? Niger may have the answer
“I flew from Ethiopia, and you can see it when you fly over the border from Chad to Niger,” says Dr. Kelechi Eleanya, an instructor at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. “From the plane window I noticed the colors shift quite rapidly from warm reds to cool greens.” Though Niger is currently […] Continue Reading
EverGreen Agriculture: a solution to degraded landscapes
A visit to Embu County, Kenya, two years ago has birthed a very promising project to address the challenges emanating from land degradation. While visiting Purity Gachanga, an agroforestry champion, Dr. Roberto Ridolfi, Director for Sustainable Growth and Development at the Directorate General for Development and Cooperation, was impressed by the transformation that trees could […] Continue Reading
Meet the Aussie who breathes life back into the dessert
How does a guy from a sleepy country town in Victoria end up pioneering a way to transform the drought-ravaged land into ribbons of greenery? Three decades ago Tony Rinaudo was hurtling across the sandy plains of Niger in a clapped-out ute with a trailer-load of trees. The Victorian man was in the west African […] Continue Reading