The Genius of Forest Gardens: Greening Senegal, Fighting Poverty, and Building the Great Green Wall

There is a genius approach to tree planting that could literally change the world. So-called forest gardens are a natural solution to overcome poverty, drought, and desertification, and it's already being implemented by thousands of farmers in Senegal right now. These forests are not like any you have seen before. They mix trees with fruits and vegetables to create a biodiversity paradise. Naturally, we wanted to help. So we partnered with Trees for the Future to plant 40,000 trees and turn this barren land into these beautiful forest gardens that provide food to families, create a habitat to countless animals, and bring life to the wider ecosystem. How wide? Our trees are part of the Great Green Wall, an ambitious project to create a forest frontier all across Sub-Saharan Africa. This wall of trees could stop further desert expansion, combat climate change, and even overcome poverty. Let's zoom in to show you how it's done and how the power of tree planting turned this into this.

I. The Crisis in Senegal's Tropical Zone

We are Planet Wild. Welcome to mission nine. This is Senegal, home to 17 million people and a plethora of fascinating wildlife from the tiniest insects to the most colourful and curious species, all the way up the food chain to some of the largest and most iconic mammals on the planet and one way or the other, all of them depends on trees for a functioning ecosystem. Now, Senegal sits right in the Earth tropical zone where an abundance of sunlight can supercharge tree growth like in no other part of the globe. But in Senegal's tropical south, the landscape is red rather than green. Deforestation and unsustainable agriculture have degraded the soil in many places. To make things worse, the dry season here lasts a full nine months during which hardly anything grows, putting stress on wildlife and local families alike. We're here with Fatoumata from Trees for the Future, our partner organisation in Senegal who have developed an amazing concept to turn the land green again all year round, and this is how it all starts.

II. The Four Rules for Effective Tree Planting

Before we dive into the story, let me quickly tell you who we are. Planet Wild is a global rewilding community that anyone can join to help restore our planet through monthly missions like this one. If you want to give back to nature, consider joining Planet Wild as a backer and help make our planet a little wilder for as little as six bucks a month. And if you join today, I guarantee that you will support your first rewilding mission within the next 30 days. There's a link in the description. Now back to the video. Planting trees is one of the most important things we can do to fix our planet. Want to prevent soil erosion? Trees. Capture CO2. Trees! Create habitat, provide shade, retain water. That's right, trees. Of course, we've all heard a lot about tree planting lately. There's been somewhat of a tree planting hype even, and many people are trying to cut corners. I've looked at a lot of tree planting initiatives over the past years. If I learned anything, it's that just putting a seedling in the ground is not gonna cut it. If you want to do tree planting right, there's a few crucial things that you need to look for. Number one, to boost biodiversity, make sure you plant a variety of tree species. No monocultures. Number two, for an equitable process, it's important that the planting sites are owned by locals, ideally, small holders or family farms. Number three, to make sure the forest you plant will still stand in 100 years, it needs to create a real community benefit. A forest that is more valuable standing than cut down for fuel will be protected for generations. And finally, number four, for the biggest effect on planetary health, you want to be planting in the tropical zone. That's why we're here. We've partnered with Trees for the Future because they're doing all of the above in a truly amazing way.

III. Permaculture: The Permanent Forest Garden Solution

Working with thousands of small family farms, they created a four-year training programme to empower farmers like Fatou, to transform the arid land into fertile forest gardens that can feed their families and turn the land green year round. And the best part, all of this is done without any chemical fertiliser or pesticides. 100% organic and circular through a fascinating technique called permaculture. Permaculture is kind of the opposite to the monoculture forests and fields that many of us have gotten so used to. There's a reason why nature doesn't look like that. It's because the more diversity there is in an ecosystem, the more resilient it will naturally become as different plants provide nutrients, water, shade, and shelter to each other. And that's why in permaculture, trees, shrubs, vegetables, fruits and grains are all planted together.

The Living Fence and Layered Planting

Here in Senegal, it all starts by planting a variety of dense and fast-growing pioneer trees around a plot of land to create protection from wind, sun, and storms for other plants to follow. This is called a living fence. Next, you place nitrogen-fixing trees at specific distances to make the soil fertile. Then you add fruit and nut trees, as well as vines and shrubs that all together create a cover of shade for the remaining topsoil. These papaya trees are only two years old and already five to six metres high. That is the power of the tropical sun. They now create a beautiful tree cover to create shade for other crops that can be planted underneath them. And instead of pesticides, herbs like mint, basil or lemongrass are used for their antifungal and pest-deterring properties.

The Power of Perennial Plants

The word perma refers to the idea that a garden planted this way is enduring or permanent. Here in Senegal, that means it is not just harvested once during the rainy season, but can produce food all year round as I learned from Abdulah who just a few years ago was about to give up his farm as almost nothing grew. Today, he has fruit all year round and even gives banana trees to his neighbours. Another crucial part of permaculture is that it focuses on perennial plants. Those are plants that naturally come back year after year. That means there's no need for the annual ploughing cycle, which destroys microorganisms that make the soil fertile and then leads to a dependence on chemical fertiliser. Permaculture instead relies on the natural processes of the land, allowing nature to take care of itself. And as a result, it also takes care of us in many ways. Abdulah's food forest doesn't only feed his family, it has also become a beautiful place for everyone to enjoy and spend their free time together.

IV. Community Impact and Partnership

And while the know-how is already here and the work is in the hands of each and every farmer, the Planet Wild community is contributing as well by funding a total of 40,000 trees to be planted and help rapidly expand the green cover of food forests here in Senegal. We're here during the rainy season, the perfect time for tree planting. And I was kindly invited to plant some mango trees on behalf of our community and get to learn how it's done. To help us better understand all of the things that are going on in these forest gardens and to share what we're learning with an even wider audience, we brought a special visitor with us. Andrew Millison is a veteran permaculture educator. He runs the number one permaculture channel on YouTube and teaches permaculture design at Oregon State University.

Biodiversity and Food Security Benefits

- Trees are such an incredibly beneficial part to any kind of agricultural system. We've got trees that are providing nitrogen fixation. The trees are creating a microclimate that reduces the amount of water needs. They're dropping their leaf litter that improves the soil. The trees are providing wind protection from strong storms that might blow through here. The trees are providing habitat for birds, for insects, for all types of species. I mean, just listen for a minute. Right, so this is really an example of an agricultural system that is supporting the wild ecosystem. - Seeing all of these biodiversity benefits, we wanted to do even more. For this mission, we decided to do something very special. We will plant one extra tree right here in Senegal for every one of you who leaves a comment before the end of the year. So go hit the comments section below, and let's plant even more trees together. - It's mind blowing the amount of benefits that we get from the trees. And it's also mind blowing the amount of tree diversity here, the variety of fruits. So before the project, if the rains failed or if there was some extreme rain event, they would lose their crop. I mean, they would go into poverty, into malnutrition very quickly. This tree infrastructure is providing yields throughout the year. So you could have a crop failure in one of the tree species, but there's 10 more tree species that are providing food, so it really provides true food security. - Andrew actually did a whole sister video on this mission where he takes a deep dive into some of the permaculture aspects. I highly recommend you go and watch it. We'll share a link at the end. Overall, we planted over 50 different tree species, which will support another 50 species of shrubs, crops, and vegetables.

Family Success Stories

And the effect on the community has been incredible. Like for the Deyanko family that until recently had to skip meals regularly for a lack of food. Now that has completely changed. They can even sell fruits on the market and generate enough income to buy much needed medicine, which was not possible before. Or for Mustafa who had to leave his family's land and move to the city where even after he finished university, he wasn't able to find work. Now he could return because the land is providing for his family and he's so successful that he's actually expanding his farm. There are literally thousands of stories like this. Farmers who can use the extra income to send their kids to school or to start businesses, who are independent from buying crops and seeds elsewhere and have become fully self-sustaining. With the trees provided by our community, we are helping hundreds of families to revitalise their degraded lands through the forest garden approach, increasing their income on average by 400% while boosting biodiversity in the wider region.

V. Conclusion: Working with Nature

What this mission shows is the importance of finding alignment between local ecosystems and those of us that inhabit them. Our existence in the world will become sustainable once we understand how to work with nature rather than against it. Senegal's food forests are literally a living and growing proof of that. You too can make our planet a little wilder by joining Planet Wild as a backer. Together, we can bring back endangered species, clean up our oceans, and rewild entire landscapes. Our members can vote on how we spend the money, connect with me and others on our Discord and see their impact in the Planet Wild app and in videos just like this one. So make sure you set up today, there's a link in the description, and of course, a big thank you goes out to all our existing Planet Wild members for making any of this happen. You've just unlocked the New Forest Garden badge in our app. Well deserved. If you want to watch some more, go check out Andrew's video right here, or watch another Planet Wild mission down here. All right, that's all from my side, see you all again next month. Over and out.