To regenerate a natural environment devastated by years of tree

felling, women in Dano village began planting trees around their

homes. Eventually, a formal association – ATB (Toupouoor Baon

Yen, roughly translated as ‘taking positive steps for self reliance’)

– was formed, and the women started regenerating the surrounding

forests as well. Since 1998, nine villages in the province have joined

the project, funded initially by the government and, more recently,

by the UK-based charity Tree Aid.

Each of the villages now has an area of woodland that is managed

by the local women. No one is allowed to farm these areas or cut

down the indigenous trees, which provide shade, food, fi rewood,

medicines and income.
Trees in the tropical world are fast

disappearing, cut down for fi rewood

and house-building or logged for sale

abroad. Deforestation has devastated

ecosystems in Burkina Faso, a land

locked country with fragile soils and a

harsh climate. Without protection from

trees – both from direct sunlight and

root-binding – the soil quickly loses all

minerals / life and becomes a desert.

By replanting and protecting the

forest, the women of ATB are helping

to push back the desert as well as

providing food, resources and income

for their families. The fermented

seeds of the dawadawa (locust bean)

tree (Parkia biglobosa), for instance,

provide a nutritious protein fat-rich

food, and soap is produced from shea

butternut oil. The leaves of the baobab

tree, as well as mangoes and cashews,

are harvested and sold in local markets

as food.