The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) reported in 2008 that “Africa is losing more than 4 million hectares (9.9 million acres) of forest every year – twice the world’s average deforestation rate.”⁽²⁾ Furthermore, the Sahara Desert is slowly expanding, with some suggesting that a “Great Green Wall” should be built to combat desertification.⁽³⁾ Desertification and deforestation have become serious issues in Africa, with problems like drought and soil erosion often plaguing African communities.

Against the background of this context, this CAI paper serves to highlight the positive role that Trees for Travel and other non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have been playing in supporting the growth of forests in Africa through various projects aimed at, inter alia, promoting green growth and sustainable development and the restoration of ecosystems that have been severely damaged.
Trees for Travel in Mali and Burkina Faso – supporting CO2 absorption and sustainable energy

In 2007, Trees for Travel – with the assistance of the Royal Tropical Institute – chose the city of Koulikoro as the focal point of its project in Mali. Subsequently, a Jatropha shrub plantation was initiated in 2007, with said shrub being well suited for the operation given its ability to absorb CO2 and to produce nuts that contain oil which can be used in the production of biodiesel. Given the properties of these nuts, a biodiesel refinery was opened in 2008.^(4,5)

The project has grown to be a huge success with the farmers’ union, the Union Local des Sociétés Coopératives des Producteurs du Pourghère de Koulikoro (ULSPP), participating in planting more the Jatropha shrubs. Additionally, the ULSPP organises approximately one thousand farmers who are shareholders of Mali Biocarburant S.A. – a company that manufactures biodiesel from the nuts purchased from the Jatropha shrub farmers. The factory that manufactures the biodiesel is being built in Koulikoro as a result of the Jatropha shrub-centered economy operating there.Biodiesel can be combined with standard diesel, which lessens dependence on oil consumption. This positive development promises sustainable development for the local community.^(6,7)

It is estimated that four of the cooperatives will be initiated annually, which should lead up to approximately 20 such cooperatives by 2014. If this scale is achieved, it is expected that approximately 80 000 people – mostly farmers and their families – would be involved and that 120 people will be employed full time, as plantation managers, advisors and spokespeople. There is real potential in Mali for biodiesel production, and Mali should be able to reach 1 million litres of biodiesel production per month by 2014 if 20 such factories are established.^(8,9)

Following the success of the Jatropha shrub project in Mali, Trees for Travel opted to initiate a similar Jatropha shrub project in the province of Sissili in Burkina Faso in 2009. The local union, Provincial Federation of professional agriculturalist in Sissili (FEPPASI ), and 4 760 of its members have already become involved. It will take approximately three years though before the Jatropha shrubs will be mature enough to harvest, and thus it is not yet possible to determine whether the project in Burkina Faso can emulate the one in Mali, but indications do seem positive. Trees for Travel note that the same concept can also be applied in Senegal and Niger and if such projects were ever to be undertaken in said countries, conditions would be ideal for success.^(10,11,12)

Planting trees in Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Rwanda

The Neighbourhood Environmental Watch Foundation indicated in February 2011 that it would plant approximately 30,000 economic trees at the Enyida Development Centre of Abakaliki, Nigeria.⁽¹³⁾ Kelechi Okezie, Executive Director of the NGO, announced that “We intend to plant economic trees which include okro, mango, cashew and palm trees, among others, to cushion the effects of deforestation / climate change and enhance of economy of the area.”⁽¹⁴⁾ He also announced that the NGO would initiate training programmes aimed at teaching farmers how to raise a nursery and manage trees and, in doing so, move the farmers away from bush burning and other activities that lead to deforestation and soil degradation.⁽¹⁵⁾ The same NGO had previously planted 2,000 trees in Abakaliki.⁽¹⁶⁾

In 2005, the Eden Restoration Projects initiated a reforestation project aimed at reforesting the Udo Escarpment, in Ethiopia – a once lush forested region that has now become wasteland. The aim of the project is to reforest the now desolate Southern Ethiopia. In the first year, approximately 200,000 seedlings were planted. Currently, nearly 1 million seedlings are being raised, with it being reported that there are currently about 250 000 trees on the Udo Escarpment at 12 feet and 500,000 trees that are between 6 and 12 feet.⁽¹⁷⁾

The Gishwati Area Conservation Program (GACP) in Rwanda recently received a donation from Plant-It 2020 – founded by the late American singer John Denver, underwritten by Aspen Academy to plant 1,000 trees in and around the Gishwati National Forest. The purpose of the donation is primarily reforestation. It is too early to assess the success of the project, but its very existence is encouraging news nonetheless.⁽¹⁸⁾

Africa’s green future

Africa’s forests contain enormous economic potential, and, if managed prudently, African communities and African economies can derive great benefit from them. The early success of the biodiesel project in Mali is a testament to this. Let’s hope that these and other NGOs will continue to make a difference to the lives of thousands of Africans.

NOTES:

(1) Contact Casper Hendrik Claassen through Consultancy Africa Intelligence’s Eyes on Africa Unit ( eyesonafrica@consultancyafrica.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ).
(2) Alister Doyle, ‘Africa’s deforestation twice world rate, says atlas’, Reuters, 10 June 2008, http://www.reuters.com.
(3) Zahra Hirji, ‘Stopping desertification in Africa with a ‘great green wall’’, Discovery News, 19 June 2010, http://news.discovery.com.
(4) ‘The Jatropha, CO2 absorption and sustainable energy in Mali - Introduction’, Trees for Travel, 2008, http://www.treesfortravel.info.
(5) ‘The Jatropha, CO2 absorption and sustainable energy in Mali – Time Scale’, Trees for Travel, 2008, http://www.treesfortravel.info.
(6) ‘The Jatropha, CO2 absorption and sustainable energy in Mali – Production’, Trees for Travel, 2008, http://www.treesfortravel.info.
(7) ‘The Jatropha, CO2 absorption and sustainable energy in Mali – Local Development’, Trees for Travel, 2008, http://www.treesfortravel.info.
(8) ‘The Jatropha, CO2 absorption and sustainable energy in Mali – The Future’, Trees for Travel, 2008, http://www.treesfortravel.info.
(9) ‘The Jatropha, CO2 absorption and sustainable energy in Mali – Local Development’, Trees for Travel, 2008, http://www.treesfortravel.info.
(10) ‘Biodiesel from Burkina Faso – Approach’, Trees for Travel, 2009, http://www.treesfortravel.info.
(11) ‘Biodiesel from Burkina Faso – Bio fuel’, Trees for Travel, 2009, http://www.treesfortravel.info.
(12) ‘The Jatropha, CO2 absorption and sustainable energy in Mali – The Future’, Trees for Travel, 2008, http://www.treesfortravel.info.
(13) Felix Uka, ‘NGO to Plant 30,000 trees in Abakaliki’, AllAfrica, 22 February 2011, http://allafrica.com.
(14) Ibid.
(15) Ibid.
(16) ‘Projects’, Neighbourhood Watch Foundation, 2010, http://newfoundationng.org.
(17) ‘NGO: plant trees. Save lives. In Ethiopia.’, Abesha United, 10 April 2010, http://abeshaunited.com.
(18) James Karuhanga, ‘Rwanda: NGO to plant 1,000 trees in Gishwati’, 13 April 2011, http://allafrica.com.

Written by Casper Hendrik Claassen ⁽¹⁾