Senegal: against deforestation, the project to replant nourishing forests

In Senegal, in Belvédère, nourishing forests are emerging as part of the Great Green Wall project. The goal is to fight against deforestation. RFI / Sadak Souici.

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Senegal loses 40,000 hectares of forests per year. To remedy this, the country is part of the international project of the Great Green Wall in the Sahel. In this dynamic of reforestation, a new project has just been launched, the "tolou keur", or small nourishing and medicinal forests, replanted next to villages with an ecological vocation. A second pilot project was launched on Wednesday August 12 in the village of Belvédère, 40 kilometers from Dakar.

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From our correspondent in Dakar , Théa Ollivier 

Next to an industrial area, the village of Belvédère stands out with its baobabs and green fields. Djibril Sall, the village chief, is happy to see the young fruit trees growing and the vegetables planted thanks to the Tolou Keur project “  There was nothing, no rain because they razed everything, but if we replant trees, the rains will return. Trees are very important  ”.

Food forests will grow across the country

With the participation of 60 people from the village, the Senegalese agency for Reforestation and the Great Green Wall to plant a 5,000 m² nourishing forest, a few steps from their houses.

“  This design is nothing more than a small henhouse in the center, 90% trees around, with some vegetables and medicinal plants. This allows us to reduce the use of water because we form a micro climate  ”, underlines Aly Ndiaye, project manager.

Faced with the coronavirus crisis , the reforestation agency wanted to help this village without water and electricity to become more autonomous, in an ecological way. “  We are mainly concerned with the regeneration of the forest fabric. And we are especially on food and medicinal self-sufficiency. This program will have the objective of natural regeneration because it is a seed bank that is being created  ”, explains Karine Fakhoury, director of ecovillages and green sectors.

By 2021, 1,000 similar sites could be created across Senegal.

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  • Senegal
  • Environment

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