When people take ownership of something, they look after it better....
An encouraging, if not wildly surprising piece of news from Niger, via Radio Netherlands:
"A fierce 40° Celsius desert wind races through the Sahel. The area around the village of KupKup in Niger is barren and dry...In Takieta, a small village not far from KupKup, children are grinding millet for the evening meal. Takieta is green and lush now but 25 years ago, nothing grew here. One of the villagers, Aboubacar, remembers that the wind was so fierce that you couldn't sit outside. The people of Takieta took charge of the situation and started planting trees. Trees are essential as they retain scarce water and provide shade....
"A fierce 40° Celsius desert wind races through the Sahel. The area around the village of KupKup in Niger is barren and dry...In Takieta, a small village not far from KupKup, children are grinding millet for the evening meal. Takieta is green and lush now but 25 years ago, nothing grew here. One of the villagers, Aboubacar, remembers that the wind was so fierce that you couldn't sit outside. The people of Takieta took charge of the situation and started planting trees. Trees are essential as they retain scarce water and provide shade....
Kees Vogt, who has been working in Niger for the last 14 years, says the increased fertility is due local people taking the initiative and it's not a result of climate change:
"The greener regions are areas where people are better organised, where they feel that they can plant things. They feel that it is worthwhile to invest in their village."
It is at 13°40'53.40"N, 8°31'50.52"E should anyone want to look at on google earth, but the resolution is pretty poor.
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on Wednesday, December 12, 2007 at 2:35 pm.
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Good for the villagers!
Funny how much further you can go, and how effective you can be, without advice from Al Know-It-All.
How is it people cannot see that this is just another platform for Gore's political aspirations and another money-maker (carbon offset trading - oh, pullEEEEEZE!). He has the biggest "carbon offset trading" company in the world.
P T Barnum was not wrong.
Nice little story C and I do not doubt it for a second . I used to walk around the estates leafleting and when you got into the Owned section it was like leaving hell and going to relative heaven
Nice piece the other day about Gore`s £100,000 per speech career Verity. Same with Porrit , you should see the lucre he gets from this and that consultancy. What is he , a scientist , nope .He would otherwise be nothing
Nice little story C and I do not doubt it for a second . I used to walk around the estates leafleting and when you got into the Owned section it was like leaving hell and going to relative heaven
Nice piece the other day about Gore`s £100,000 per speech career Verity. Same with Porrit , you should see the lucre he gets from this and that consultancy. What is he , a scientist , nope .He would otherwise be nothing
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