In Africa, a vast reforestation project is fighting industrial agriculture

One hundred million trees planted in 2015 and the goal of reaching one billion in 2030.41 thousand hectares of arid land restored in less than ten years, more than double the surface area of ​​the city of Milan, which allow the livelihood of 50 thousand families and which capture 347 metric tons of CO2 per hectare, the equivalent of 100 thousand liters of diesel fuel consumed.And then the increase in biodiversity, the creation of jobs, the rediscovery of a healthy relationship between man and the environment, which allows self-sufficiency.To achieve these objectives is Trees for the Future (TREES), a non-profit regenerative agroforestry organization that trains farmers in sub-Saharan Africa in sustainable, nature-based solutions.Its results are important to the point that the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) has awarded it the status of World Restoration Flagship, i.e. the flagship of global restoration.By 2030, the organization also aims to create 230 thousand jobs in Kenya, Mali, Senegal, Tanzania and Uganda.

The approach of TREES is based on the agroforestry technique of “forest gardens”.This is a model horticultural that collects a high variety of useful plant species, mostly perennial, modeling them on the structure of a young forest.After identifying the agricultural communities living below the poverty line, the organization provides them with the technical preparation and seeds to plant on their properties - generally one hectare in size or less -, together with the necessary equipment.They are well 70% of the total African families who depend on agriculture, but decades of unsustainable agricultural practices (combined with deforestation, pollution and climate change) have made the land degraded and non-productive and the food non-nutritious, thus making families unable to satisfy their needs food.

For the results obtained in improving community life and regenerating the environment, TREES was awarded the World Restoration Flagship.These are awards awarded as part of the United Nations Decade of Ecosystem Restoration initiative (led by UNEP and FAO) which aims to prevent, halt and reverse the degradation of ecosystems, both on land and in the oceans.They are awarded for noteworthy initiatives that are committed to the goal of restoring one billion hectares of land (an area larger than China).Winning this recognition allows the project to receive funding from the United Nations.Thanks to them and other types of aid, TREES aims to achieve the objective of restoring 229 thousand hectares of arid areas by 2030 and capturing 79.5 million metric tonnes of CO2 in 20 years (the equivalent of what is emitted by a coal-fired power plant in the same period).UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen said: “Initiatives like TREES are playing an important role inreverse decades of degradation of the ecosystem, especially in the Sahel, averting desertification, increasing climate resilience and improving the well-being of farmers and their communities".

The project is also part of the initiative Great Green Wall, an 8,000 km long tree belt that the African Union is building in order to counter the advance of the desert and which aims to cross the African continent horizontally.Its success demonstrates not only that there are ways to coexist in harmony with our planet, but that we also know the techniques and criteria for its implementation.And that sometimes, to set a change in motion, all it takes is a little willpower.

[by Valeria Casolaro]