Story

Senegal Builds Africa’s Great Green Wall of Trees

June 18, 2012 | Pulitzer Center
By
Bobby Bascomb, for the Pulitzer Center

It may not look like much now, but the Senegalese government is banking on tress like these to grow into a forest that can trap the sands of the Sahara and reduce desertification. Image by Bobby Bascomb. Senegal, 2012.

Widou is a model village for the Great Green Wall in Senegal. It was the first community to experiment with the tree planting project. The Senegalese government has planted 12,000 acres of trees each year for the last four years. Image by Bobby Bascomb. Senegal, 2012.

A fence surrounds the great green wall in Widou to keep out tree-eating goats. Image by Bobby Bascomb. Senegal, 2012.

To help get support for the project the government has helped people, mostly women, plant gardens in their community. They use drip irrigation to minimize evaporation loss. Image by Bobby Bascomb. Senegal, 2012.

Before the garden project came along the only way to get fresh vegetables was a trip to the market 30 miles away. Now women volunteer one day a week in the garden and share the harvest. Image by Bobby Bascomb. Senegal, 2012.

Traditionally nomadic, the Peuhl people are the dominant ethnic group in the Senegalese Sahel. They keep large herds of goats and cows for subsistence. Image by Bobby Bascomb. Senegal, 2012.

French colonizers built water wells every 30 miles across the Senegalese Sahel. It is the only year-round reliable source of water in the area. Herdsmen bring their animals here every morning to give them water. Image by Bobby Bascomb. Senegal, 2012.

The Peuhl have already seen changes in their local ecosystem. The trees are further apart and desert species are moving in that were never there before. Image by Bobby Bascomb. Senegal, 2012.

Local people believe a Great Green Wall of trees will help recharge the water table and secure life-giving water for their animals. Image by Bobby Bascomb. Senegal, 2012.

The Sahel is a wide band of savanna that stretches across northern Africa, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea. It serves as a transition zone between the Sahara desert in the north and the tropical areas in the south, delimiting the sand of the Sahara. But climate change has put the region at risk of desertification, with as much as 30 percent decline of rainfall in the last century. The threat has also been heightened by over-farming, over-grazing and natural soil erosion.

In northern Senegal, traditionally nomadic Peuhl people keep large herds of goats and cows for subsistence. They have already witnessed the changes in their ecosystem when trees are further apart and desert species start inhabiting their land. To halt the advance of the Sahara, the Senegalese government has been planting 12,000 acres of tress annually for the last four years. The goal is for 11 African nations to complete a 4,300 mile-long wall of trees that will pause the desertification process and offer a sustainable source of food.