So why do it?

Have a look at the before and after pictures at the side, and it becomes clear. Have a closer look, and I'll tell you a little background from Tony, our Programmes Director.

The 'before' picture is a slightly fuzzy shot of what looks like 7 men and one woman sitting on the edge of the hand-dug well. With no tools other than those powered by human muscle, through sand baked as hard as rock, they dug a hole some 2 metres in diameter, probably the same deep, before they reached the water table. In Mali, afternoon temperatures are between 33 - 39° C throughout the year (that's about 90 to 103° F). The few scrubby trees in the barren land suggested that they might find water for all this effort. But in what was the 4^th poorest country in the world at the time, 65% of which was semi-desert and getting worse, there was an incentive. This was in 2003.

They had asked TREE AID and its local partner AMEPPE for help to meet the ongoing needs for wood, initially for building poles and fuel (all cooking is done over wood fires.) Clearly there wasn't much left locally.

TREE AID trained a local nursery man to grow and care for tree seedlings as well as techniques to restore the degraded soil, and provided what was needed. Initially fast growing eucalyptus trees were planted, first around the outside edge of the nursery to provide protection from the dry and dusty Harmattan wind.

By 2004 the nursery began providing seedlings of various trees, for use in community and individual woodlots. Plenty of fast-growing fuelwood trees mean that other, more productive trees can be left to mature. Other seedlings were planted within the nursery, to be planted in the community's compounds and fields. The other clever part was in training people to make fuel-efficient stoves. See more here: http://www.treeaid.org.uk/shop.asp?productID=1166&returnto=shopstart.asp

There were in fact 13 neighbouring villages involved in the whole project – and 8 nurseries set up. More than 100,000 tree seedlings were planted out – 90% of which survived. There were 27 different species, including moringa, baobab, cashew and acacia. I could go on…

The fruits and leaves of these various native trees have provided food, medicines and raw materials to the local communities, and have also protected and replenished the soil for the crops that were planted in their shade. A small oasis has been developed, with its own microclimate and ecosystems. Look at the 'after' picture - you can now barely make out the well in the background (the pink circle shows the cross bit at the top).

And it can only get better - for example, the returning bees now provide for a small honey production business. People locally have been convinced to implement the new soil improvement techniques, and to work together to protect the existing trees from the triple dangers of bush-fire, goats and firewood.
But here's the really good part.

The project may have ended in 2006, and TREE AID moved on to other areas, but the nursery, with its well and its trained nurseryman is still there. An enterprising and hard-working business man, he now produces seedlings for private use and other local government funded projects. And other communities, learning of the success of this project, can come to buy seedlings and learn how to transform their own environments.

They say an area the size of New Zealand is lost to the encroaching Sahara every year. This is not empty space, but home to millions of adaptive and hard-working people. If we want to save them from migrating to the slums around the big cities, we have to plant trees. It really is that simple.

So that's why.