disadvantaged, with a view to achieving 100-per-cent exclusive breastfeeding for the fi rst six months of life

■ Fund advertising and education campaigns that target fathers, mothersin-law, schoolchildren, doctors, midwives and the general public

■ Give women who wish to breastfeed in public the necessary encouragement and approval

■ Make provisions for all women who are in employment to take at least six months paid leave after birth, without fear of losing their jobs.

Such strategies have already proven their worth elsewhere. In 1970, breastfeeding rates in Scandinavia were as low as those in Britain. Then, one by one, the Scandinavian countries banned all advertising of artifi cial formula milk, offered a year’s maternity leave with 80 per cent of pay and, on the mother’s return to work, an hour’s breastfeeding break every day. Today, 98 per cent of Scandinavian women initiate breastfeeding, and 94 per cent are still breastfeeding at one month, 81 per cent at two months, 69 per cent at four months and 42 per cent at six months. These rates, albeit still not optimal, are nevertheless the highest in the world, and the result of a concerted, multifaceted approach to promoting breastfeeding. Given all that we know of the benefi ts of breastfeeding and the dangers of formula milk, it is simply not acceptable that we have allowed breastfeeding rates in the UK and elsewhere in the world to decline so disastrously. The goal is clear – 100 per cent of mothers should be exclusively breastfeeding for at least the fi rst six months of their babies’ lives. ■

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In the village of Dano, a sacred

tree dominates the marketplace.

Amma, who lives in the village,

tells a story that highlights the

deep cultural value and sacred

nature of such trees. ‘This tree is

very important to us. A snake lives

in the branches. Many people,

good and bad, come into the

market. The snake will only appear

if a person has very bad thoughts.’

PUSHING BACK THE

DESERT Deforestation and, most recently, drought have turned

Photographs and story by Kate Eshelby

the West African country of Burkina Faso into a desert

– devastating for the 80 per cent of the population that live

in rural areas. When the women of Dano province noticed

the land around them degenerating after large areas of

forest had been removed, they decided to take control. By

replanting trees, fi rst in the community and then in the forest,

they have regenerated the local economy, local customs and a

sense of local pride. ‘When you grow a tree before dying,’ say

the women, ‘you have not lived for nothing.’

034 THE ECOLOGIST