A project in Africa is encouraging farmers to diversify their crops by planting biodiverse forest gardens. These gardens not only provide food for the family, but also contribute to soil preservation and increase tree coverage, in contrast to widespread reliance on single cash crops.
Is TREES, the organization for planting trees, a rare and successful mass reforestation effort? The UNEP recognized its achievements by giving it the title of World Restoration Flagship last month.
-The program was established in 2015 and has successfully planted millions of trees annually in nine different countries including Senegal, Mali, Tanzania, and Kenya. In under 10 years, it has been able to revive over 41,000 hectares of land, equivalent to approximately seven times the area of Manhattan.
The African Union’s Great Green Wall aims to create a barrier of vegetation spanning 8,000km to prevent the spread of deserts in the Sahel region. This ambitious project is still ongoing and is expected to become the largest natural structure in the world.
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Trees for the Future has ambitious plans to use reforestation to combat poverty. By 2030, it aims to create 230,000 jobs and plant a billion trees.
Inger Andersen, the executive director of UNEP, stressed the importance of prioritizing restoration efforts. It is no longer sufficient to solely focus on preserving the remaining fertile land in Africa. As this continent will soon house a quarter of the global population, it is crucial to address the degradation of many regions which have turned into nearly barren drylands.
Andersen announced the launch of the World Restoration Flagship, stating that programs such as TREES are vital in undoing years of environmental deterioration in areas like the Sahel. These initiatives help combat desertification, enhance resilience to climate change, and promote the welfare of farmers and local communities.
Despite the clear necessity for reforestation, past events have caused some doubt about the efficacy of such initiatives. Oftentimes, our expectations are unrealistic. A study from 2019 proposed that the planting of a trillion trees globally would significantly mitigate the effects of the climate crisis, but this idea was later disproven as not feasible due to inadequate available land.
Several countries have implemented large-scale tree-planting initiatives, but they often lack adequate irrigation, protection, and follow-up measures to ensure the survival and growth of planted seeds and saplings. In many cases, these efforts are simply a form of greenwashing, diverting attention from the larger issue of destruction of forests in other areas.
Kenya, for example, has launched numerous tree-planting initiatives in recent decades, including the Million Operation Gavisha in 1977, the Trees Campaign in 2006, the Greening Kenya Initiative in 2010 and the Accelerated National Tree Growing Campaign 2022, yet overall, it has lost 11% of its tree cover since 2000.
In the previous two years, there has been a slight improvement in the situation due to the efforts of the current president, William Ruto. He has established a yearly holiday for planting trees and has set a national goal to plant 15 billion trees and increase tree coverage to 30% by 2032. However, these advancements may not last long as Ruto recently lifted the six-year ban on logging in order to promote economic growth. This decision adds more strain on already threatened forests such as Mau, where land is being cleared for tea and wheat cultivation; Migori, which is being encroached upon by sugar producers; and Nyanza, where tobacco farming is expanding.
Preserving primary forests is crucial for the overall climate, indigenous species, and local water systems. These vital roles, cultivated over many years, cannot be completely substituted by creating new forests and restoration efforts. However, initiatives like TREES can contribute to mitigating ecological and economic challenges in areas that have already been degraded.
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In western Kenya, specifically at Kesouma by Lake Victoria, organizers report helping 17,000 small-scale farmers by providing them with education, seeds, equipment, and funds to create “forest gardens” instead of just growing one type of crop, which can deplete the land of needed resources such as water, carbon, and nutrients.
The area is subdivided into groups of 20 smallholders, represented by a lead farmer, who is paid a stipend of 3,000 Kenyan shillings every month. All members regularly meet for reporting, training and access to the tools and seed banks to nurture a forest garden. Individual plots, which cover 1 hectare on average, are said to have about 5,800 trees of multiple varieties.
The perimeter of the area is surrounded by a protective barrier consisting of three rows of Acacia polyacantha trees. Behind this barrier is a group of closely-planted agroforestry trees that have a fast growth rate and can be utilized for firewood and animal feed. In the middle, there is a combination of vegetable gardens and orchards that contain various fruits such as mangoes, avocados, oranges, apples, and others. The goal is to produce enough nutritious food to sustain a family with an additional surplus to sell at a local market.
In a specific location in the Lake Victoria region, revenue will receive additional support through funding from carbon credits given by Catona Climate, a US company. These credits are linked to improvements in soil organic carbon, which are evaluated by specialists from the University of Nairobi and the Wangari Maathai Institute of Peace and Environmental Studies.
Monitoring is an essential aspect of reforestation programs, as well as maintenance, especially in remote locations. Significant initiatives in China and Africa, such as the Great Green Wall, have attempted to solve this issue by using aerial seed dropping techniques in uninhabited areas. However, this approach has often been unsuccessful due to the unsuitable seed species and lack of irrigation. Alternatively, forest gardens show more potential, although their impact is restricted. Farmers typically reside near their fields and have a vested interest in maintaining the soil’s fertility and promoting the diverse growth of trees.
Vincent Mainga, the director of TREES in Kenya, announced that the project’s growth will accelerate following its approval by UNEP. He described it as a large-scale initiative focused on regenerative agriculture. Mainga explained that their approach is simple to implement and involves working closely with farmers for a four-year period. As a result, they gain a comprehensive understanding of all aspects and are able to apply the techniques taught by their technicians to produce flourishing farmlands, often resulting in a surplus. This approach is sustainable and self-sustaining.
Source: theguardian.com
