By Alan Channer There is a Kenyan saying that ‘he who goes to Mombasa may never return’, for the Indian Ocean port has many charms and opportunities. Today the city’s sprawling slums are witness to a more general challenge: rural-urban migration. Much of this is due to environmental degradation and the effects of climate change…
By Alan Channer Kelechi Eleanya is passionate about trees and the environment. As President of the ‘Forestry Students Association’ (aka the ‘Tree Club’) at the University of Ibadan in the 1990s, he was in the vanguard of promoting the value of trees in the environment among his peers. ‘Back then,’ Eleanya recalls, ‘forestry was not…
by Alan Channer World Vision Ghana has been fostering the uptake of evergreen agriculture in northern Ghana for over 10 years – greening thousands of hectares in Talensi District, with multiple benefits for its farming communities. As a result of these achievements, World Vision Ghana won an ‘Excellence in Land Restoration Award’ in February 2019,…
Over 35 years ago, the Australian agronomist Tony Rinaudo began implementing what became known as Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR). It all started in Maradi, Niger. Following the Beating Famine conference in Mali, Tony returned to Maradi, to visit friends and evaluate the impact of FMNR. He sent this report: 20 years after the formal…
Behind the Scenes at the Land Restoration Awards By Alan Channer ‘‘Let’s have an awards ceremony at the Beating Famine conference in Bamako – and let’s have the ceremony at a gala dinner.’ Dr Dennis Garrity was in brainstorming mode. ‘‘Celebrating success in land restoration is one of the most effective ways of scaling-up,” he…
Tony Awarded Order of Australia Australian agronomist Tony Rinaudo has gained global recognition as ‘The Forest Maker’, through his Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR) method. Since 1983, Tony has demonstrated on a grand scale how drylands can be regreened at minimal cost, providing a solution to address extreme deforestation and desertification across the Sahel region…