Farmers are key to stopping the desert | Chris Reij & Louis De Jaeger

Chris Reij, an expert in desert restoration, shares his insights on sustainable land restoration in areas adjacent to deserts, such as the Sahel region. He emphasises the importance of working in areas with higher rainfall and population densities to maximise impact.

Chris discusses his background in soil and water conservation and the breakthroughs he witnessed in Burkina Faso, where farmers improved and adopted traditional techniques, leading to the restoration of degraded land. He also highlights the remarkable re-greening phenomenon in Niger, where farmers spontaneously protected and managed on-farm trees, resulting in the transformation of 5 million hectares of land. In this conversation, Chris Reij discusses the success stories of regreening efforts in Africa, particularly in Niger and Malawi.

He emphasises the importance of farmer-led initiatives and the role of communication in spreading these success stories. Reij highlights the need for a shift in mindset from project-based approaches to process-based approaches, focusing on replicable and low-cost techniques.

He also addresses the challenges of outdated forestry legislation and the need for agricultural development policies that support integrated farming systems. Reij concludes by emphasising the multiple benefits of increasing on-farm tree numbers and the potential for scaling up regreening efforts in Africa.