Local Governance of Forest Resources
Why is this project needed?
Mali is one of the poorest countries in the world with 44.7% of the population living in poverty. Agriculture employs 90% of the rural population but this is incredibly vulnerable to climate change, leading to higher temperatures, reduced rainfall, flooding, and desertification. Communities rely heavily on tree resources as a source of food and income.
The Safienso, Sanekuy, and Mio forests in the Ségou region of southern Mali are being impacted by overgrazing, trees being cut down for their timber, unsustainable hunting, and rapid agricultural expansion. Forest ecosystems across the country are suffering from deforestation and biodiversity loss, with an estimated 500,000 hectares of forest land destroyed every year.
Our aims
This project will support three forest management cooperative groups, made up of community members who will be responsible for the care, protection, restoration and sustainable use of the forest for the future. Groups will receive training and will be supported to create land management plans for 26,700 hectares of vital land.
2,300 farmers will be trained in soil and water conservation, and we will work with communities to plant two million native trees. The project will also build six boulis – large reservoirs that store water throughout the dry season.
The project will establish 30 village enterprise groups. These are community-level businesses of around 25 members each where members, who are mostly women, work together to grow sustainable businesses based on non-timber forest products.
30 nutrition gardens will be created, planted with fast-growing and nutritious trees such as baobab and moringa, supporting communities to have access to sustainable and nutritious food.
