Community participation and ecological criteria for selecting species and restoring natural capital with native species in the Sahel

Abstract

Combining community needs and preferences with dryland plant expertise in order to select suitable native species for large‐scale natural capital restoration is the approach that has been successful in the Sahel as part of Africa's Great Green Wall program. In order to increase plant diversity and restore degraded land, we investigated four cross‐border regions of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, all located in dryland ecosystems of the Sahel. In 120 beneficiary village communities, with a total population of over 50,000 farmers, including 51% women, participatory diagnostic meetings were conducted, leading to the selection of 193 plant species, most of which were mainly used for food, medicine, fodder, and fuel. Of these, 170 were native and considered suitable for enriching and restoring those village lands. The most environmentally well‐adapted and economically relevant species were prioritized, quality seeds were collected, and nursery seedlings produced under technical supervision of villages. From 2013 to 2015, 55 woody and herbaceous species were planted to initiate restoration of 2,235 ha of degraded land. On average, 60% of seedlings survived and grew well in the field after three rainy seasons. Due to its multiple uses, including gum arabic production, Acacia senegal was preferred by local people in most cases, accounting for 30% of seedlings planted. Such promising results, in an effort to restore degraded land for and with the help of thousands of farmers, could not have been achieved without the combination of scientific plant expertise and efficient rural capacity development, underpinned by high levels of community engagement.

Native Seed Supply and the Restoration Species Pool

“…Several large-scale ER initiatives are underway globally, such as the Australian Gondwana Link (Merritt & Dixon 2011), the Bureau of Land Management U.S. initiatives (Oldfield & Olwell 2015), the African Great Green Wall (Sacande & Berrahmouni 2016), and the European Union (EU) Natura 2000 (European Commission 1992). Seed-based plant conservation and use strategies (Merritt & Dixon 2011;Royal Botanic Gardens Kew 2015), seedbased research , and seed supply all play critical roles in successful ER.…”

Soil Seed Bank and Plant Community Development in Passive Restoration of Degraded Sandy Grasslands

“…Successful ecosystem restoration primarily depends on the suitability and adaptability of the vegetation [30]. Plants regrow from seeds in the soil seed bank and extant plant reproduction, or are introduced by dispersal [31,32]; thus, the characteristics of the soil seed bank are important in determining the regeneration potential and resilience of the target community [17,33,34].…”

Native and non-native species for dryland afforestation: bridging ecosystem integrity and livelihood support

“…In North America and Europe, it often aims to sustain the forest as a functioning ecosystem that conserves biodiversity (Aerts and Honnay 2011). In developing countries, participatory planning aims to manage and conserve natural stands and agroforests to provide basic food and regular income (German et al 2006;Reij et al 2009;Xu et al 2012;Sacande and Berrahmouni 2016).…”