The Great Green Wall Programme

Last year we started to register the presence of wildlife in our restoration areas. So far, spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) and caracal cats (Caracal caracal) have been captured on camera!  These wonderful creatures, thriving in both the core forest and buffer zone of our project area, remind us of the forest's vital role in supporting diverse species.

This footage from our Desa’a Forest project is just the beginning! We’re hoping our cameras will also capture some elusive big(ger) cats: leopards (Panthera pardus). Local communities have shared stories of droppings and footprints suggesting their presence.

Despite a severe drought last year, the team and the community once again met the planting and restoration goals in 2023. Almost 4619 ha (2036 ha in the core zone and 2583 in the buffer zone) was brought under restoration management – the equivalent of over 5500 football pitches. With more than 18 600 ha of forestland protected, we’re nearly halfway to restoring the 38 000 ha landscape.

Thank you for helping to make all this possible!

These juniper trees at Felegewoyni village were planted seven years ago. By managing them with pruning and water harvesting structures, we’ve watched them grow from half a metre tall to  more than two metres in two years alone! 

Impacts like this from our Desa'a project underwent an assessment by Tigray's bureaus of Charity and Finance earlier this year – and on 1st September, their findings were presented at a meeting in Wukro town. It was attended by members of the project’s active woredas (districts) – Atsbi, Tsrae-Wenberta and Tsaeda-Emba – as well as representatives from other restoration initiatives, researchers and local leaders.

The bureaus praised the project for its strong collaborations with local institutions and communities, as well as for the passion, work ethic and commitment of WeForest staff. The awesome survival rates of planted seedlings in the project area was of particular note, and the assessors suggested studying the contributing factors to scale up this achievement as a best practice for the region. 

Success stories from local participants were testament to the project’s impact. Improvements in household incomes were confirmed by many personal accounts, with several participants confirming that the new sources of income have reduced their dependence on forest resources. One such testimony was from a family who received 3 mature female sheep from WeForest and reached 30 sheep in 4 years. The family sold 27 of the sheep and bought a cow, and are now earning a solid income through milk sales.  

“The project’s achievements, working models and monitoring has inspired us. The Desa’a project truly transforms the landscape and people positively, and this is what we should do in the future,” said one bureau representative at the meeting. 

At the beginning of November, the Desa'a project was honoured to receive a visit from Professor Mitiku Haile, founder of Mekelle University and 2021 Laureate of the GCHERA (Global Confederation of Higher Education Associations for Agricultural and Life Sciences) World Agriculture Prize. He was accompanied by colleagues Dr. Abadi, previously head of the Tigray Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Development, and Dr. Girmay, a professor at Mekelle University. 

With WeForest Ethiopia Country Director Aklilu Mekuria, the visitors discussed topics such as sustainability and carbon financing, how to scale up WeForest’s practices in other areas, research initiatives that could leverage the forest and landscape restoration in Desa'a, and what is needed from government, universities and other stakeholders to support WeForest. All the visitors were hugely impressed by what they saw, and promised to use their capacity and influence to support and promote our activities!

Thank you for helping to make all this possible!