Comments on: Fighting drought with trees in Burkina Faso

By: J. M. Ouedraogo

J. M. Ouedraogo — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 23:47:37 +0000

I am a native of Burkina, but I have been living in Europe for many years.
First of all, I must confess that reading Hertsgaard’s opinion piece and the comments is comforting:indeed, one notes that there are a lot of people in this world – no matter where they happen to be living in – who also care about what is going on in the remote Sahel region!It is amazing!
In the 1970s, as a school boy I was envolved in a local youth NGO called AVDR (Association des Volontaires pour le Développement Rural). Our main activities were about organizing camps in villages, and planting trees (above all accacia) offered at that time by a Governmental agency located in Kaya (North-East of Ouagadougou).
In recent years, I have come to realize that we could have done better. Indeed, we could have targetted local plants instead: karités, baobab, and many many others that in addition supply food. We could have also combined our projects with other ones such as apiculture, etc.
These ideas are unfortunately those I have been thinking about many decades later.
Last August, I was delighted, as I hit upon a BBC report on a British NGO called Tree Aid, that seems to be implementing projects combining regreening and food issue in … Burkina Faso!
This kind of approach might have been on the agenda of any governments in the region and beyond. That is why I have come to think in this way: instead of waiting for them, environmentalists NGOs and activits might start working out a strategy at two levels:
1.with journalists NGOs dedicated to this cause: the aim of this outreach is to efficiently work out a communication strategy at local and national levels designed to raise people’s awareness of the challenges that lie ahead.
2. with all kinds of organizations, and schools in cities and villages, aiming at setting up models for good practice.

Besides this, it would be absolutely advisable to convene every year or two years in each region or province a sort of forum of all stakeholders. On this occasion, all NGOs and organizations alike that have sponsored, or been funded – no matter the amount – should meet on what they have done, why, their results, and once again share good pratice and information that need to become common lore. Since auditing NGOs is still unknown in quite all Africa, this is another way to introduce this good practice of Western NGOs!

By: A.A.

A.A. — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 10:35:07 +0000

It is not just the number or volume of trees that makes the difference. What kinds of trees are the villagers nurturing? Are they wild trees that are adapted to hot and dry conditions, evolved in that place? Are they exotic trees, or horticultural varieties? We also need to think in terms of ecological and biological diversity — not just carbon emissions. “Green” does not mean natural. California’s Central Valley is the nation’s bread (and fruit) basket because of massive landscape transformation and diversions of water from rivers (which drain mountain watersheds). I agree that fruit and nut tree crops are valuable, but let’s not forget that they exist because of unnatural massive water diversions.
In Burkina, I would like to know if the trees are native, perhaps wild species, and if they are actually adapted to that environment.

By: alan m. harris

alan m. harris — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 13:24:31 +0000

I have heard the Saraha Desert is fast moving south and that Timboctou is completely covered. I lived in Ouagadougou for a year in 1988 and visited Ouahigouya on several occasions. In 1988 it was my impression that trees were being cut for firewood faster than they were being replaced. I would to be honest, quite surprised, but pleasantly, if that is still not true. I wonder who knows whether or not this reporter’s story is representative of the country and the region.

By: J. Miller

J. Miller — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 01:12:27 +0000

Burkina Faso is not a “tiny” country as the introduction to this piece suggested. It’s approximately the size of Colorado. That said, I really appreciated this story — I was a Peace Corps Volunteer outside of Ouahigouya and worked with some very dynamic and hardworking villagers on this very subject — reforestation integrated with agriculture.

By: ST Fry

ST Fry — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 22:52:37 +0000

Gee great idea! California farmers have been doing this for around 100 years in the arid San Joaquin Valley. Planting thousands of fruit and nut trees a year but now it is all in jeopardy by the US Government because of Endangered Species Act. Water restriction on pumping plants in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta which supply water to all these trees on the westside of the San Joaquin Valley are in jeopardy.

By: Dave Deppner

Dave Deppner — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 20:07:41 +0000

Yakuba has the right idea about how Africa and African agriculture can be saved.
If enough people followed Yakuba’s example his effort could make a major contribution to turning away the threat of climate change. Reducing the amount o carbon we emit is not nearly enough – we need to also remove the excess carbon already in the atmosphere. Each tree such as the ones Yakuba is nurturing and transplanting takes a large amount of carbon out of the air and turns it into food, shelter and other things people need.
But the threat is massive and growing. It will take many thousands of us, working together, to help get these trees planted.

By: Jana Rogers

Jana Rogers — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 19:36:28 +0000

This is an excellent idea. Is there somewhere I can send a small donation to help this program?

Thank you for your excellent report and Yacouba Sawadogo for his ingenious idea.