community garden near Labgar
Path through burned land. Tambacounda
Woman with rope made from Baobab Tree Bark. Many Sahel communities are centred around these monumental trees, whose bark and fruit offer many Indigenous remedies, traditions, and folklore.
New growth on a leaking water tower
Gerald Simpa Dioussé, Technical agent for Eaux et Forêts et Chasse, stands by saplings destined to be planted in the ‘Great Green Wall’
Saplings destined to be planted in the ‘Great Green Wall’–a multi-country initiative to combat desertification and increase the amount of fertile land across the Sahel.
Gerald Simpa Dioussé pulls a dead bird from his reservoir "it is hot", he said.
Young trees inside a protected area of the 'Great Green Wall'. Pastoral scenes like this do not exist outside these fenced off areas as animals eat the grass and strip the young trees of their bark.
Pastoralists leaving a protected section of the 'Great Green Wall' having bought hay to feed their animals. With land and water limited in the Sahel, farmers cultivating the land and often in competition with pastoralists who need to feed their cattle.
Saplings ready for planting, Eaux et Forêts et Chasse, Labgar.
Keeper of a village Baobab tree. In many villages in Senegal, Baobab and Palm trees will have a symbiotic relationship with a human keeper.
Adama H Diop, Président de l'Unité Pastorale de Labgar stands by new irrigation channels dug in a new section of the 'Great Green Wall'
A community garden near Labgar in Northern Senegal
School garden near Kedougou
Farmers on the banks of the Doué River river near Podor on the Mauritanian border. The presence of the river makes this area one of the most fertile in Senegal.
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As global temperatures rise, more land in the Sahel region of Africa is becoming vulnerable to drought and desertification–which leaves soils less able to support crops, livestock and wildlife.
Despite this fragile ecosystem suffering greatly from the impact of global heating, it is a tiny contributor to the fossil fuel emissions that cause it. The consequences of desertification in the Sahel could be severe, and include food insecurity, loss of biodiversity, and displacement of communities.
Yet, as I travelled through the community gardens and villages of Senegal in the heat of summer, I found myself uplifted by the resilience of the people that I met, and by their reverence for all that is green.
Supported by the TPA/RPS Environmental Bursary 2023
With thanks to SOS Sahel