An Inspiring Grassroots Ecorestoration Approach: Sahel Ecovillage Communities

we as communities we do this work with the government without the government it is our responsibility you know to be fully present on the ground with also the support of our International uh friends and we now also uh redes the final s of redes is Sahel and Nigeria is included but for the time being we're focusing our efforts between Senegal and Northern Senegal and Southern Mauritania and our long-term vision is really to cover the whole sahil region including Niger [Music] or evening or morning depending upon where you are joining us from welcome to bio for climate and gbh Forum Network series Life saves the planet we are very pleased today to welcome the founder and team for the redis Eco Village movement and read us I just want to say at the beginning is an acronym that would translate from the French as the network for Eco Village emergence and development in the Sahel Sahel being that region of Africa that includes Senegal Mali Mauritania Burkina Faso Niger and Gambia very important area that has encroaching desertification and this movement is a major major effort to um to regenerate ecosystems and improve community life in the region I'm going to introduce first the moderator and then introduce the speakers but Dr Dave Daimler who I want to thank very much for introducing me to the redis Eco Village movement is a um is a member I will not give his entire bio right now but he he actually combines his passion for environmental action with over 35 years supporting organizational leaders and teams grow and develop he introduced Vedas Eagle Village movement to the eldest climate Action Group in Massachusetts which is where I first learned of Dr Palm Dr Usman palm and this movement and um and I thank him very much for doing that so Dr Usman Ali poem is a lecturer of contemporary British drama and civilization at shankanta Diop University in dakas Senegal where he earned his PhD in 2002 in his Doctorate in 2015.

in addition to this academic work and research he designs and coordinates International academic programs in Eco villages in Senegal in 2009 he was elected mayor of Gage chantier a small rural town of nine thousand inhabitants in the north of Senegal and during his five-year mandate as mayor he sought to transform the town into an Eco community he's a founding member of the global Eco Village Network which has a branch Africa gen Africa and he presided over the pan-african organization between 2012 and 201 20 and he is the founder and director of redis which is implementing a trans-border Eco Village Hub between Senegal and Mauritania consisting of 141 Villages at last count in the Senegal River Valley he'll be joined by Katrina Jeffries whose international relations coordinator for red s Eco villages she is an artist a consultant and a lifelong philanthropist she first met Dr Palm in 2019 during a trip to Senegal to observe a service learning program with students from the United States and Senegal and she fully understood immediately the importance of the work that was going on there in February of 2020 Dr Palm asked Katrina to join his virtual support team and in 2021 she became a permanent part of the staff and she is deeply proud to be part of the efforts of many at Red s to restore the land bring water to Villages provide resources to revoke your remote villages in the region our third speaker is Marina Zan Dr Marie nazan who was a social worker with over 30 years of clinical experience in mental health she's a member of the counseling faculty at the City College of New York in the um seek program and a practicing psychotherapist she's also a returned Peace Corps volunteer in a former Fulbright scholar in Senegal and very committed to Greening and sustainability of the planet by planting trees in Africa and Haiti I think all of our speakers recognize that they are part of a larger movement for restoration and um huh and a very important model and piece of the work that's needed to be done if we are to restore this planet to a semblance of Health she serves as the academic programs coordinator for redis international service learning program I will add about our moderator but he met um Dr Palm at a conference that he helped to organize called climate change and consciousness held at the find home Eco Village in Scotland and he along with many others has supported Dr Palm in developing this movement and in helping college students in their redis-focused remote Service Learning experiences and now without further ado and you'll see in chap an example of redis academic service learning program a link to that so Dr Palm welcome thank you very much for being with us today we look forward to learning about this extraordinary model of development that you have created well thank you very much my friend Paula for this very kind introduction and uh very complete as well and it's a real uh pleasure to be here and thank you again for uh hosting us having us today and to the entire buyer for climate and the gbh team we really really uh delighted to be here with you today and it's also a very it's a blessing also to have this closer circle of friends and the colleagues uh Dr Marina Katrina Jeffries and Dave who have been very very supportive you know in the work we do in the in Senegal River Valley and there are many of course many circles around this immediate close central circle we will discover so and again the work I will present uh to you is you know start it somewhere was inspired by somebody but I mean it's a grown it's spread you know into a bigger and bigger circles and it has become a lovely consolation of Hearts connected you know trying also to support the whole you know ongoing efforts in there in the Sahel region so I'll share my uh yes uh right so again uh Paula has already uh you know uh said where the sahil is it's this region below uh the Sahara Desert it goes from Mauritania and Senegal uh on the East all the way you know to Eritrea and Ethiopia so this is really a region that a region that is really the epicenter of climate disruption uh because uh you know uh the heat is so intense here uh it rains so a little you know just two months a year and when you are very lucky we get you know about uh 300 millimeters a year and very often also this rain is torrential or irregular and in this process also you know Farmers would depend on the rainfall uh lost and very often also in May uh April May we have this very hot wind from the Sahara desert called The Hamilton it's just like uh these machines people use to dry up their hairs it's so hot and then it dries you know uh the land it dries you know um everything so as a consequence you know the um uh the lakes are drying up the river itself is losing its uh importance and then also we have very frequently uh sandstorms when they come people can hardly see their fingers because it's so it's pitch dark um and it's usually followed by um a very very intense rains so we have then an alternative of floods and most of the uh there the area in the sahil region is like this uh very few trees and here this was uh where you can see my cursor this is a place we visited you know with the students uh when we first started this work and this place here you can see um this is where all our green initiatives are taking place the heart of them because we're using this part you know to uh where we have our community center around it we have um we have a food Forest emerging and further down we have also a tree nursery and so you will see also how these this button uh lunar place has just changed in about four or five years but this is not the only thing we do but of course uh we do a number of other things and because of the of the severe droughts and the Heat and the uh you know the uh all the ecosystems that are being affected by you know the droughts and the hot winds you know many people in these rural Villages are living uh their abilities to go to the urban centers or cross the Sahara Desert get into Europe and many of them of course die or get arrested or you know suffer you know really uh indescriptable you know sufferings uh to go to Southern uh Europe and even getting water in this region is also very very challenging uh though we are very close to the river Senegal because of the two dams of river on river Senegal uh so the water uh regime has changed it's become a big lake and also it's also uh contaminated by all the products you know the chemical product from uh the farms and the industries in along river Senegal so we are close to the river we cannot drink we cannot swim in it and just it's just a massive uh waste and it wasn't like this you know about 40 50 years ago uh and because uh you know about six decades ago uh it was a very very uh Splendid region with a very impressive biodiversity and this lady here you can see is my grandma she was 100 years old uh when she transitioned and she told us how it was you know uh uh you know when she was young uh there were Lions there were he posed there were you know all sorts of birds and people could walk from uh one Village to the other we without seeing the uh the sun because it was exhibited and this gentleman here uh Amato saidu lives in I visited him about 10 days ago and he was attacked by a lion when you talk to the people today uh you know people who are under 30 they think you know this region has always been very hostile but I mean these uh ancestors you know tell you know have uh told us you know different stories and then my grandma uh Kumba is a Kumba quebe uh really was my first University she opened my senses uh she told us again how people used to live the Traditions Etc and also because we used to help her I heard look after her herd of cows she had about 90 of them and it had a name it had a history and then though you know we spent you know uh hours and of the whole day away from the village without water without food you know she fed us with all these stories and I think my number one motivation into the work I do is her and uh because I think also she gave me this Mission Without Really uh telling me directly but I mean through her stories and uh yes uh now I feel totally motivated to sort of help and restore uh as much as they can and here isanchi this is the village where I grew up and it was founded in the 30s by the French just to start uh experiment uh irrigated agriculture so people were brought by force from neighboring Villages from Mauritania from Mali to start this Village and at the beginning it was just a small number of people to come and clear the land and start agriculture you know Agriculture and this is also the place where globalization also were playing a full speed because we had you know European Services we had uh un U.N also services and later we have Chinese and each one showing the best they can how the system they were you know uh teaching the local people was best and the Chinese were the one who connected the village with uh you know brought electricity in the village and at night of course you know with the darkness around this Village it looks like you know a spacecraft because uh all around is is Darkness so um and then for about eight years or so we've been uh taught to use chemicals to use uh uh GMOs Etc and today and today people are caught between uh smaller and smaller yields and bigger and bigger bank loans because the land is dead in uh in the process and also even the nutrition uh indicators are all in in red and uh so at the beginning of the year 2000 uh we had a big Community meetings with students Farmers herders you know women leaders the youth and then for three days we thought about you know the strategies that we should Implement to get the village out of uh out of uh you know the poverty uh it was really uh trapped in and so a few um five years later um you know I came after I had the opportunity to go to Oroville in India uh to take a course on equality design and also I came to the village with students and explained to the Village what an Eco Village is what are the advantages Etc and so the community accepted to be part of the national network and then at that time it was just a village at a year and so after we were promoted Eco municipality and for the first time in the history of the village we were looking for a mayor and team and of course when people spoke to me asked me to to run I was very hesitant very reluctant but I mean finally I accepted and um I um you know proposed you know a program to transition the uh Community into an Eco community and so what is an Eco Village an Eco Village is a human community that is consciously working to preserve uh either traditions and natural resources against poverty and degradation while abscale upgrading the living environment of its inhabitants so equalities in the north and equalities in the South are a little bit different because here we have uh communities are already together and very strong all they need is also to um strategies uh to fight against poverty and fighting against um uh ecological degradation is part of it um bringing in you know sustainable businesses so also part of it I mean it takes education cooperation between communities to uh take uh to uh get through this process and this is a mandala uh that was that's uh we adapted because in our world many people cannot read cannot write and the global ecobee's Network Mandela has lots of writings in it and here we put pictures and this is a very good introductory you know device when we go to the community and explain for example what the role a muscle can play in ecology and the uh Community Building etc etc so and this is really a good tool to um really upgrade the living of their of their the living standards of the of the local communities and again so we tend to modernize modernize our our own cultures uh to improve the lives of the people but again modern is not really westernization we can be developed following our own model uh you know being rooted in our best cultures and open up also to the best you know the rest of the world can offer so um and redis itself you know is an organization that was born uh in in the process because you know first it started in get a and then we were including more Villages and then we also saw the success and you know the success on the ground also gave us their uh the audacity to include even more uh communities and share because you know we've got successful uh stories here and there so we all come together and learn from each other and the communities also get inspired uh you know by what's happening in the neighbors and uh we keep you know sharing knowledge sharing practices uh and then so radess was born you know to really support uh This original uh transformation and then uh it has many many aspects it's not just about um uh planting trees uh it's about education uh providing water um you know organizing free a free medical consultation for the people you know having films conferences here and there and working also with the local people local governments to really Implement you know this transported Eco Village Hub that is uh between Southern Mauritania and Northern Senegal uh so um part of what we do is really organize green Caravans and we take plants from lahil for example in the North and then we take it to Villages and currently at the moment in lahil we are in a cycle of a tree production of about 30 000 and in the past we produce 400 000 trees that we also give for free to uh surrounding Orchards and communities so when I was elected mayor the first thing we used we needed to do was you know cleaning the village because you know Plastics are a complete um um a complete a disaster in Africa all over Africa you know people eat in the street they throw uh in the in Plastics and now we've got weekly markets so they produced you know tons and tons of plastics which are carried away by the wind and into the rivers uh it uh animals eat them and they feel sick uh also it's also they are very Dead uh deadly also traps for the fish and in get Ashanti we organize the youth into equal Gods so they would regularly you know uh clean the streets they will regularly also talk to the people uh Etc so we bring uh you know out you know the students of the different schools they come in clean uh and we also did this with uh you know in other places maybe marinazon will come back to this and again also Eco Villages are not just you know a nostalgic return to the Past no I mean it's a combining you know modern clean modern Technologies with our own cultures to upgrade so for example one of the first things we did in getting was to open up you know a computer center secondhand computers but I mean many of the kids around have never seen uh have never seen uh let alone you know touch a computer so it's also important you know to fill up this uh computer Gap literacy between urban centers and uh this uh the rural Villages and also fish farming because also many of our fishermen were out of jobs so we had also students from the US we came to help us extend our water distribution system in the village and one fantastic thing completely unexpected we learned after we you know expanded this uh the Water distribution system in the village you know it freed the young girls from the daily shows of providing water to their own families they could go to school and for at the beginning we could not see the the direct link uh between these things but I mean also in this process we are all Learners and all teachers at the same time uh we have adjusted you know our approaches several times terms um yes so um and also with a Chinese who taught us you know that you know who gave us for free tons and tons of chemicals and of course we started teaching the people about the dangers of all these chemicals we because we are in a context where people can we can write so they manipulate all these toxic products without gloves without proper um proper protection I have a brother-in-law who even lost one part of his face because he carried it on his and then it sipped over his face and then we had also the people who died uh right so taking people out in the land to teach them exactly how to revive uh uh the land to reconnect because we we also started you know losing the traditional knowledge in the traditional Technologies uh related to to to to lamb so uh one um it's really practical not really close in an AC group now we go out in the open we share knowledge and it is a very instructive way to to learn and we basically work with women from different Villages and the youth also from different Villages uh how to make a compost how to process food how because if you want to be really effective on the ground show you need to work with the youth organizations and also with women's cooperatives this is what also redis does and also we've been also communicating a lot inviting journalists we've been on radios I've been writing a newsletter articles for newspapers National newspapers and through all these communications also we've got in touch with people doing the same thing in Mauritania we were not aware before and this you know really strengthened you know the other connections that the network also was building and also uh we uh you know we also um uh invited the government to support and this was uh my earliest meeting uh ever because that was 7 A.M with the minister uh here uh environment Minister and then because that day he had also a ministerial uh meeting with the president with all the other uh ministers so we came earlier and then that was before my flight to Egypt where we created the global economics Network Africa um and um really this communication has supported uh the work of red s and also in the middle of the baron land I showed you in 2018 we come to in the desert we had a delegation from Mauritania Elders women leaders we had Youth and then for the whole day we we were there in the open dreaming how to regenerate this together and uh of course it was hot sandy uh very very difficult and on that very place we built a community a community center because our and this is the heart of the of the ecology Hub and we would really like to use this to uh Inspire and uh keep uh things also moving in the region and also um uh we use the theater a lot again to organize our equivalency design courses discussions uh here uh uh we people were telling how the forest was you know about 50 years ago the Elder standing said you know represented trees and the people here lions and then people the audience there would discuss all this um you know and also we had expert local experts also who come and teach people how to prepare their land Etc and then on this picture here we were celebrating uh the uh some of our successes our food also is also a major entrance when you fight against the poverty uh so we had our friends from Damon who who came to teach us how to process food naturally and keep it for a longer time now friends from Los Portales taught us how to also make cheese because we have lots of goats around but uh we tend to just to have use the milk during the short rainy season and apart from this this uh there's not much that we do with the goats so redis also has been creating Orchards and this is really one of my prize here it's a in a herding Village called the Madina fresh bay with the support of Daman bur Italy we created this Orchard and eight months later they had the you know the the bananas were much taller than me produce banana they could also have vegetables when they went to the market is just to buy fish on other things but I mean this really helped you know um secure food in this Village so and all the all these villages we created also arms for men found for women Etc and we keep doing this so this is our computer our community inter Community Center and then two of the people who came here to help you know with the foundation came from Mauritania because uh the artificial the uh border between Mauritania and Senegal is completely artificial and people are um still scared to cross this border because of the colonial Legacy uh so uh also part of the mission of redis is really to dissipate this fear we have also inherited from uh the colonial times yeah um development of our food Forest so the students have been instrumental uh in implementing all this my colleague Mary another will come back to this uh so this is the beginning also our food Forest uh completely dry before water was a serious problem we had to use a cow uh you know donkeys to bring water it was extremely difficult and um but I mean it's uh improving uh slowly and so we produce you know about with just 10 000 USD we produce 400 000 trees for 20 Villages uh small money but we made it work really really hard uh for the uh for the for the network yes so improving the uh water the irrigation system in our emerging food forest with the support of Los Portales but um still today I mean a lot of work you know also needs to happen because we lost a part of our uh baby trees this the Summer with the heat so also the The Collection you know everything we do we you know we involve so many people uh like the the seeds when we have these meetings we encourage people to exchange seeds uh also here in Dhaka we have a team my family basically we dry up and then we we count the uh the grain we send them to the North and then we uh also uh during the mango season we collect you know mangoes in garishante which is much greener than the other Villages and we have also our friends from kazamas that's the greenest region in Senegal they also send uh send you know seeds to support the work we're doing in Northern Senegal because they are aware if the desert progresses so later also their own region will be um uh also dry as ours so uh one of the we also created a three nurseries in a secondary uh in villages to support also the tree production uh one of our programs also is water so far we have created implemented uh with the support of friends around the world uh for a nine four 49 Wells and then these Wells are also you know the Implement change in the village because people can drink a water which is much safer than the water from the river uh and they do not have to cover long distances to get their water so they have less water related disease and so it also feeds the girls from the chores of covering long distances to provide water and uh also the cattle also also can drink much you know Safe Water one also important program we do is also building classrooms for uh in in the Region 13 classrooms by an organization supported by an organization of friends but they stopped because some of them are sick now and others are aging so but I mean and then we were able with the support of my friends uh to build 13 classrooms it's just a couple who in southern France I met years back in uh in England when I was a student and then also using theater uh because as I said again people do not can do not most people do not really do not write so we need theater to raise awareness around the nutrition Plastics equivalent design the importance of keeping our uh uh cultural identity Etc and it's very very effective also too of change uh culture again uh because we are on a planetary Village it's so easy to get lost but I mean we definitely need to also consider the best our best traditions and combine them you know with the best uh you know uh influences uh from the rest of the world um yes um and also because uh our mission is also to improve the welfare of the people we invite you know International doctors local doctors to come and give free medical consultation uh for example this gentleman here is a primary school teacher it takes one month's salary to buy new pair of glasses so people send second hand you know good glasses and with the support of local doctors they are given also for free to people um and Verdes is really also um developing its network with the local National agencies and also lots of partners with our service learning program uh I'll stop here and give the floor to my friend Marina song Thank you wow Usman um I've been working with you how many years and every time I hear the story for this I get um motivated I get inspired and um and I have deep gratitude for the work that you have started that we're doing for the planet I love that you shared that um your grandmother um was your first University and indeed um our students from the international service learning program they sit at the foot of the elders as well as um peers who are skilled in areas of sustainability to learn and and to grow and the service learning program has been um is a Cornerstone of the greatest of readers um we bring students what's unique about the service learning program is that the students are American students um or european students are working directly with Senegalese peers so unlike a study abroad program where students are isolated I'm working um with each other or taking classes with each other the service our service learning program bring these the two cultures together and so offered a more intimate and more um comprehensive a more cross-cultural connection than they would have had had they just come on a study abroad program and not only are they providing skills and and service to the community um in terms of activities and and projects that has been identified by the community like the Water Project like a the school and the food Forest many of the projects that Usman just talked about students have participated both American Europeans and I'm Senegalese students together working together to bring service to the community the students are thereby also gaining skills they're gaining um on information about how Africa um handles is handling this this climate crisis how Africa how in that area of Senegal how communities are coming together bringing back the old ways right this is nothing new um bringing back the old ways the old ways to nourish and take care of the planet so the students there's a there's a photo right here of um a student holding her um it's actually she wrote her thesis um her BA thesis so not only are we encouraging learning um but we encourage research and students have um given back to where this as well as learning for themselves by doing um deep research on the work that we're doing um so the student completed her bachelor's thesis and um produce um a qualitative quantitative study on Ray desk and this past January we had another student from City College um the university my home University who did an independent research on the well projects that we have so Raiders have been we've been building Wells um we've received some fundings and we built the rails um but didn't have the time to really see the impact of those Wells and so her offering to do the research on that particular project has given us quantitative by the way as well as a qualitative information that um shows the impact of the world project so the impact of the the service learning program is is so many fold and what I have to say is that um one of our main program is with City cars of New York which is in New York City again my home University it's a three-week program in January and we have other programs that can be longer that can be shorter but the city college has been um the most consistent program that we've had so joining since 2013 and I have to tell you within the three weeks that the students are there we have seen transformation personal growth and transformation it's nothing like I've seen before in other programs that I've been in and people say well what can they do in three weeks um they definitely support the community that they're they are involved in um we work with them students enter that experience with several orientations they don't come in without information and the orientation continues while they are in country and they're doing the orientations with the Senegalese counterpart and so the learning and the um the knowledge and the growth happens throughout the three weeks right and so by the time they leave they're leaving a pawn of themselves in Senegal in the community that they've given service to um they have done work with supervision between myself Usman and um Katrina and our other partners and join the program um in terms of what is needed and what is sustainable so that when they leave the work can continue um what has what we've been experiencing is students who have done the program many many years coming back to Senegal because they've sustained the connection that they made with Senegal and their Senate this counterpart they have come back to do International research um as an international internship for three months six months we're preparing for a student to come hopefully in November who will be an international um doing the international internship with this for um six months um lastly the program is sustainable and that is what um that is what Ray this is is about is sustainability and it definitely is fostered with the international service learning program and um it's it's amazing in terms of the transformation that happens to students that they carry it forward they carry forward in their lives and it continues long after the three weeks or the four weeks or the three months that they've um supported the program um I think that's about it and yeah and so these are some of the photos of our um from the program and and one year my class was invited to participated uh to participate in a radio program where they shared their experience what it is that they were doing um we supported in making the bricks for a classroom um helping dig the well and participate in the blessing of um before the beginning of the well and the students really get a sense of the culture um because they are present they are right there um as uh as all of this is going on um yeah I think I think if there's anything else that you might want to add um I just have to say I can't talk enough about the importance that the the service learning program is to rate US and how it has supported building community and the ripple effect of community that it does beyond synagogue um beyond the United States um and dismantling this about Africa dismissing myths about um Americans that happens throughout the program um and the students come back really nourished their nourishing overfilled and that overfilled continues in their own Community lastly each program we ask the students to do a pledge a pledge to the planet um whatever it is however small it is whether it's planting a garden um reducing um waste at home but they take a pledge and I have to say many of them have maintained those pledges over the years um because at the end of the day it is that we are stewards of this planet and Raiders is a prime example of what stewardship looks like has to accept shows up and this is passed on to the students and they take it on to the community I'll pass it back on to you um thank you my friend I know you know the whole conference can just be focused on uh the service learning programs because there's so much to share and because of time constraints so we'll keep it short and thank you again very much for this support all these years because also this is uh something we have created together uh yes now the floor to our friend Katrina Jeffries who is in chart charge of redis international partnership there yes thank you Usman and also um Marie I just want to re-emphasize how important the transformation of the students not only the international students but the local the Senegalese students who some of them who have never visited this part of their own country and seen some of the things that we expose them to in their own country how transformative our service learning program is for these students they become different people once they go through a program and I now want to talk just a little bit very quickly about all of our um International and National alliances and all of these logos of all of these organizations that you see on this screen were made possible by one person and that is Dr Usman Palm I can't express enough my admiration and my support and my loyalty to this man who is who is changing the planet and um in this capacity of course you know it looks like you know maybe we function as a large organization but it's essentially the three of us and mostly it's Mr it's Dr palm and um you know we still as all organizations in this network we are still seeking funding we still need funding for our infrastructure we need funding for our tree nursery the wells the schools and education program and the health programs and you know we we get funding from a lot of personal uh friends and acquaintances donate to us in a very very loyal to us and have really given us their time and their energy their love and their support I also want to say that through with all of this we're talking about the education the research and the um the work it is all connected through a spiritual basis this connection from um these organizations who all care about the Earth and about our future and about the climate and about uh sustainability um it's all it all comes together here so I'm going to cut my comments short so we can get to um questions thank you very much yes thank you very much Katrina for also all the wonderful work and energy you've brought into uh these organizations since he came so some of the you know you've already summed up you know this page because uh we need expanding we need uh you know support you know to um support you know the food forest and all the other uh programs and we plan also to organize the second uh Eco Village Festival next year uh now in two years in 20 uh 2025 uh yes and uh we definitely need support also um to transition redis into a much stronger uh organization well uh and uh these are the people I'd love to thank because uh they've been very supportive individually together in so many different ways the newspaper the website the school programs uh extending their networks really they uh they have made their difference in the sahib region and again if you know anyone who will feel called uh uh who will feel cold so this is uh the link for the donations and thank you again very very much for your attention and I look forward to you know to hearing your questions and also exchanging thank you so much uh there are a number of questions uh in the Q a box about Connections of Rhodes Eco villages to um other parts of the world so for example uh someone is asking about whether you're aware of efforts in Niger to nurture the growth of trees whose Roots were still there but which had been traditionally cut down for agriculture someone else is asking about affiliation of redese Eco villages with a great green wall so if you could say a little bit about how rodesico Villages is connected uh in Africa and what you've learned from those connections yeah the green wall project is a fantastic vision of the governments of Africa which is uh it's a 15 kilometers wide and 7 000 plus kilometers long and then it's uh uh supposed to be built under uh you know across uh the the continent below the Sahara Desert to stop the sound uh desert from encroaching and in in the area where we are though the government has good intentions it's only reduced that is present and not the government but I mean uh we as communities we do this work with the government without the government it is our responsibility you know to be fully present uh on the ground with also the support of our International uh friends and we now also uh read this the final s of redes is Sahel and Niger is included but for the time being refocusing our efforts between Senegal and Northern Senegal and Southern Mauritania and our a long-term vision is really to cover the whole sahil region including Niger we know lots of also challenges are happening there in neighboring Mali but I mean uh yes so we will find ways in the coming years to reach out and also work closely with the people we're already talking with people in a Burkina Faso as well thank you yeah great and uh someone is also wondering about how is it that you engage or persuade of different villages in Northern Senegal the Senegal River Valley to participate um and there's a related question about does the concept of land ownership affect your ability to create Eco Villages uh in the Senegal River Valley yeah thank you very much for this question I mean I am from the north I was born there I grew up there my family in so many generations you know has been living there so in a way we are connected differently from you know the people in the different Villages um and um also the the river itself which is now the official border was not a border before so the all the kingdom of the of the futa Torah was on both sides of the of the river so we also part of what we do is also to really reconnect these broken Community pieces together uh and uh for land you know in Africa the land is community uh property and not private and it's a family it's not you know just for individual and then for red s we do not come and work on the on people's land but when we support them in the work they do uh you know by bringing uh skills by bringing resources but we do not you know uh uh control the land in any way so it's their own land we support so um and also we feel very welcome because uh again as we are related to so many villages around uh yeah so uh we have a few challenges here and there but I mean they're all surmountable uh but I mean it's also part of uh of nature I wanted to I wanted to add to that Dave um we don't solicit people to become Echo Villages they see the work that we are doing in The Villages that we are working with and there's a line I mean every time Usman goes up to the north there's three or four people who are you know kind of waiting and hanging back and then when we finish the presentation they're like um can you come to our village please we want to join this network how do we do this so it is it is very much uh word of mouth and and word of success right so they see there was adults that we're getting in The Villages we're working with and word gets around people talk so they come and they they solicit us and this is the way that we prefer because it is it is to emphasize what um what Dr Palm just said we are supporting them right we're we're whatever their needs are they some people one lady came uh earlier this year in January she came with a list the things that she wanted to be done in her Village so you know we we can accommodate some of them but not all of them depending on our programming and our funding yes the word of mouth is really helping spread all this and they are also organized in WhatsApp groups so there are continuous discussions so uh uh all the time all the time and then they've got our phone call phone numbers they call and every time we go to The Villages you know several people come and we also visit them we uh have long waiting lists of so many uh you know uh needs right several people are asking about holistic management um in terms of integrating cattle goats uh into grassland restoration for example uh can you see a little bit about that about how uh what the how the different pieces relate to each other in other words the water the animals the plants all of that stuff together yeah I'll just give you the example of lobudu which is one of my favorite villages in southern Mauritania so uh in the 80s lobudu was also a desert village arid almost no Food for People for Animals and then they decided to um fence uh uh enclosed 18 hectares after a series of discussions to keep the animals out of this land and about 10 years later it became a real real Forest so they reintroduced the animals and because also this Forest you know produces the leaves in uh you know there are many insects around Etc so and so they feed you know the fish in the river and the fish has become abundant and uh really big fish and also the fishing beds are back so in just about you know two decades they have restored the full cycle of life and today when you go to lobudu is not only much cooler but I mean they've got food all year round I think it's just a question of really um balancing everything but I mean uh separation separating the the cattle from everything else you know this will also create some disaster yeah wonderful you reminded me Usman when I tell people I mean I think as enthusiastic as Katrina is about you and your work um and what I often say is Usman thinks like an ecosystem he thinks in ecosystems so you've just given a great example of pulling together all the pieces the land the animals the insect everything um the water the soils uh it's really tremendous work that you're doing and I look forward to staying in touch with you and I'm sure that we'll have time after this to answer some of the other questions that we didn't get to today perhaps in the material that folks send out after this Paula and bemoaning the fact that we don't have more time right now because this has been such a a moving and inspiring presentation and one that I know people have been longing to hear that this is possible and that um it is a a gift Out of Africa like so many other gifts from Africa that we have and I um I want to thank all of you for for this presentation to say that um I believe at biodiversity for a livable climate we can make those questions available and if you want to answer them at greater length we can make sure that those responses are sent to the community um of people who attended and um I also yeah very honored to have met you and to be presenting this incredible inspiring model thank you so much thank you thank you Paul and bio for climate um is has organized this event and presenting it in collaboration with gbh Forum Network this is bio for climates donation link so we'll leave that on for people to see it and we will thank our colleagues and co-hosts at gbh Forum Network and um give our blessings and love to all of you in Senegal and in New York thank you so much for having us okay thank you thank you thank you Dave thank you Dave together today yeah blessings all right it is a blessing thank you [Music]

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