progress
The trees were never gone. 200 million came back.
The trees were never gone. They were waiting underground.
Niger has restored five million hectares of savanna, roughly 12.4 million acres, without planting a single seedling. The country formally recognized the method as a national soil restoration approach in 2020. The trick, discovered in 1983 by an Australian agricultural adviser named Tony Rinaudo, was that the trees were never really gone. Beneath the depleted Sahel soil, root systems were still alive, waiting for farmers to ease the pressure of overgrazing so green shoots could return. The technique, called Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration, asks farmers to identify which shoots to protect and which to prune. Because the trees belong to them, the value is direct. Shade, firewood and fodder come with the deal, so protection is self-interest rather than a program obligation. By 2020, groups including the World Agroforestry Centre estimated more than 200 million trees had returned, benefiting roughly 2.5 million people. The method is now being tested in more than 20 countries.