Growing the Olympic Forest
Planting trees and restoring land with the IOC to grow the Great Green Wall.Why is this project needed?
The climate crisis is causing temperatures to rise and weather patterns to shift across Africa. Land is losing fertility and people can't grow enough food. As a result, over one third of the population of Mali (43%) and Senegal (39%) are living in poverty. Here, many people face insecurity over their rights to natural resources. Women in particular rarely have access to the land, equipment and training they need to grow food to eat and sell.
Trees provide a solution, improving soil fertility and absorbing carbon dioxide to tackle the climate crisis. When crops fail to grow, trees survive to produce products to eat and sell, helping communities build resilience to the effects of the climate crisis.
Our aims
This project aims to grow 589,000 trees to restore large areas of degraded land in Mali and Senegal. We will grow native tree species selected in collaboration with local communities, including trees that produce fruit, nuts and seeds that they can eat or sell. Trees like this offer a more resilience source of food and income than crops in the face of the climate crisis. Every tree grown will also contribute to the Great Green Wall – an initiative to re-green land across Africa and sequester carbon dioxide to tackle the climate crisis.
By promoting agroforestry – growing trees alongside farmland – the project aims to regenerate degraded agricultural land, helping to boost soil fertility and improve farming productivity. We will also support locals with conservation techniques like rainwater harvesting, to ensure they have the know-how to care for their trees and land for many years to come.
This project is funded by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) – the owner of the Olympic Games and leader of the Olympic Movement. We are also working with our Senegalese operational partner, La Lumiere ONG.
