Ibrahima III Diallo

The Protection of Threatened Forests in Dalaba

Ibrahima in nursery at Miriam Makeba garden.

Working on nursery site in Miriam Makeba garden.

Gazebo under construction, botanical garden.

Gazebo in Jardin Miriam Makeba, Dalaba.

Town/RegionCountryCategoriesDate
DalabaGuineaAfrica, Forests11 Mar 2010

This project is counteracting the degradation of area forests and curbing their further deterioration in the following five ways:

1. Community education: project team is teaching environmental and forest stewardship to student leaders and teachers in schools at all levels, and to farmers, charcoal makers, carpenters and leaders of women's groups.

2. Alternatives to slash & burn agriculture: project team is working with area farmers to identify and then plant soil-enriching plants and quick-growing trees to add economic value to fields already in cultivation, thus making unnecessary further destruction of forested hillsides and making burning less economical a method of clearing land for planting.

3. Reforestation: project team is planting 1,500 fruit and forest trees in two particularly deforested areas on the edge of the town of Dalaba.

4. Fighting bush fires: project team is establishing a network among locals for surveillance and for putting out fires that are started intentionally or inintentionally.

5. Eco-tourism: project team is completing the development of the Miriam Makeba Botanical Garden, adding seedlings to its nursery, building a gazebo and installing benches for receiving visitors and students, and securing the area with a fence. In addition to being an eco-tourist site itself, the Garden will be a place for the education of locals in environmental stewardship, encouraging them in ways of life that will ultimately make Dalaba an eco-tourist destination.

For further information contact EnvironnementAction@yahoo.fr

Project Update: June 2010

In the first update, I reported on completion of the fencing to secure the Jardin Miriam Makeba, the expansion of the tree and plant nursery, and the beginning of the work with farmers to promote alternatives to slash and burn agriculture.

Since then, the work has progressed in the following ways. One of the gazebos has been constructed, and the second gazebo and the toilet are more than half way to completion. We have also found that the Jardin is becoming known and popular in Dalaba so we are optimistic about its ability to be self-sustaining and to generate income for continuing the nursery (which in turn supplies tree seedlings for reforestation). So far, we haven’t charged admission because we’re asking visitors to the garden to help us with the manual labor. But when the manual labor is done, we’ll start charging admission fees.

For fighting bush fires, we have purchased the motorized water pump, a 100 m hose, hedge clippers, boots and gloves. In regard to community educational materials, we have purchased the moto. Because the school year was shortened this year due to the presidential election campaign, we decided to postpone the education in the schools until October 2010, when schools reopen, although we plan to involve selected teachers and students in the reforestation work in July 2010.

The promotion of alternatives to slash and burn agriculture continues.

Project Update: November 2010

Read about the latest progress of this project in the report below.

File DownloadSize
Project Update.doc26 KB
Flyer for sensibilisation.doc1.68 MB
Final Report

Read more about the activities undertaken and findings of this project in the final report below.

File DownloadSize
Final Report693.5 KB

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