Dryland Forestry

Solving land degradation hinges on economic development

01 February 2019
Accra – Rural communities in Africa’s drylands can earn a decent income from forest products such as gum arabic or tree oils. According to a new report from Action Against Desertification, rural populations have the opportunity to increase their incomes while reversing land degradation through sufficient support and investment, and [...]

Financing major obstacle to expand Great Green Wall, FAO Director-General says

30 January 2019
Rome - At the Nobel Peace Prize Forum 2018 on how to solve the climate crisis of December last year, FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva said the Organization lacks funding to scale up its efforts to expand Africa’s Great Green Wall. A major obstacle for implementing climate change adaptation measures [...]

How balanites soap put a smile back on Hadjatou Ouedraogo’s face

22 January 2019
Sampelga, Burkina Faso - "Here we eat the fruit of the Balanites tree," says Hadjatou Ouedraogo, a farmer in her fifties from the village of Sampelga in Burkina Faso’s northern Sahel region. She takes a piece of nut from the container in her hand and adds: "And we used to [...]

“In Mbar Toubab we manage to save money,” says Moctar Sow

07 December 2018
Mbar Toubab, Senegal - In three years, Action Against Desertification has restored 5 400 hectares of degraded land in the drylands of northern Senegal. The inhabitants of Mbar Toubab have been able to improve their lives while adapting to climate change. "Before we started working in the villages, there were no [...]

Soucoucoutane experiences the effects of desertification every day

04 December 2018
Soucoucoutane, Niger – It has been two years since Action Against Desertification started working in Soucoucoutane in eastern Niger. The mayor of this commune is delighted with the results obtained. "You know, this is a relatively isolated area of the country,” says Hassane Abdoulaye, mayor of the commune of Soucoucoutane, 300 [...]

Massive new survey of land restoration in Africa's drylands

15 November 2018
Rome – Action Against Desertification is expanding its groundbreaking monitoring work on dryland restoration in Africa’s Great Green Wall area with a survey of evidence-based biophysical data of land restoration, covering over two hundred million hectares of land around the Sahara. Until recently, drylands and their uses were not well understood [...]

14 million hectares of land need restoration in six African countries, new report shows

18 October 2018
Rome – A report on the state of the environment and socio-economic conditions in fragile ecosystems reveals the extent of land degradation in dryland Africa and shows how closely it is related to hunger and poverty. The report’s authors make an urgent call for increased investment in land restoration for [...]

Banave Sévère's crops grow better on restored land

21 September 2018
Bonbon, Haiti - “Look at the size of this potato,” says Banave Sévère, a fifty-year old farmer from the commune of Bonbon in Haiti’s south-western Grand’Anse department. “They would never have been this big before,” he adds. It happened when he started growing crops in combination with trees and shrubs, Banave [...]

A model to support the achievement of an “African dream”

10 September 2018
Rome – Action Against Desertification’s approach and results occupy a prominent place in the latest edition of Nature & Faune, as the journal zooms in on renewed efforts to accelerate restoration of degraded land and deforested landscapes in Africa. “Forest loss and land degradation are among the key challenges facing sub-Saharan Africa”, [...]

Restoration method could be vital to achieve zero land degradation

03 May 2018
Rome – A major EU-funded FAO-programme called Action Against Desertification has paved the way for large-scale land restoration in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific. Its restoration method could become a vital tool in support of efforts to achieve a land degradation neutral world, experts said in Rome today, presenting [...]