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Which natural and anthropogenic factors influence tree growth on land reforested by arboRise? To find out, we were lucky enough to have our research project selected by EPFL as part of the Design Projects course. In this compulsory course, master’s students in the ENAC department are responsible for providing scientific answers to problems posed by companies, local authorities and others. This applied research represents around 500 hours of work for each pair, so it’s a real scientific analysis, supervised by EPFL professors. Ines and Aurèle were immediately interested in our project, and we were lucky enough to benefit from their expertise for several months (around 2 days a week for 15 weeks). Thank you Ines, thank you Aurèle! Both are geoscientists, so they know all the tools of satellite analysis inside out. They were supervised by Professor Devis Tuia. Ines and Aurèle’s report is a mine of information. It can
In addition to its mission of participative and sustainable reforestation, the arboRise foundation has the statutory objective of “experimenting with natural reforestation methods that enhance biodiversity“. That’s why we asked ourselves how we could use mushrooms to make our trees grow. We’ve known for several years that trees and fungi interact. In a nutshell: Some fungi link up with tree roots via their mycelium to help each other. Trees provide sugar to fungi in exchange for water and mineral salts Trees that benefit from this grow better There are three types of fungi: Saprophytes Saprophytic (or saprophagous) fungi feed on dead or decomposing organic matter. They play an essential role in the decomposition of dead organic matter, such as leaves, branches and plant debris. By breaking down complex organic matter into simpler compounds, they release nutrients into the soil. Although direct interactions between saprophytic fungi and mycorrhizal fungi are limited,
Seed harvesting began in the villages in the second group (you’ll recall that the 26 villages are divided into three groups corresponding to the ripening period of the trees: the first group of villages harvests seeds from trees ripening in January-February, the second group harvests seeds from trees ripening in March-April and the third group harvests seeds from trees ripening in May-June). The harvesting technique differs depending on the tree species. Here, on the Uapaca Somon, the women use long, light bamboos at the end of which they attach blades to pluck the clusters of seeds from the top of the tree. For other species, the women collect the seeds that have fallen to the ground: All the seed families have been fitted with large tarpaulins to make it easier to collect the seeds (see news item ‘Equipment for the families’). In these images, the harvesters are not using them.
The Guinean families involved in the project are extremely poor. They lack clothes and tools, even for their usual farming activities. In the first year of the project, the participants had asked for a distinctive sign that they belonged to the project, which we provided, although we were sceptical about its real usefulness. In the second year, we provided tarpaulins for the seed families and boots for the field families: The large ARBORISE-GUIDRE tarpaulins are placed under the seed tree to collect the seeds, for the duration of the harvest phase. The tarpaulin makes the seeds clearly visible and facilitates harvesting. Above all, it protects against animals that might hide in the grass or branches under the trees. It also protects against abrasions caused by thorny grasses. ARBORISE-GUIDRE boots protect the lower legs of land families as they move around and work on sowing, clearing and establishing protective strips. In
In 2024 arboRise is launching a new reforestation cycle in the sub-prefecture of Samana, neighbouring Linko. Preparations for this new stage have been underway for several months, with a reconnaissance visit in June 2022, a stakeholder consultation in five villages in January 2023 and the feasibility study with our second partner, EcoAct, culminating in the submission of the project description document to the Verra standard in December 2023. These images from our reconnaissance in June 2022 show the similarities between Linko and Samana, where we observed the same population density, the same type of agriculture, the same deforestation… and the same enthusiastic welcome in the villages: This warm welcome was confirmed during the stakeholder consultation with our partner EcoAct: the prefectoral, sub-prefectoral and village authorities (village chiefs, councils of elders) promised us their full support to ensure the success of the project in their region: In the village
January 16 is Saint Marcel’s day, the saint of the seed growers. That’s for sure a good day to launch the 2024 campaign in the sub-prefecture of Linko. This will be the third and final year of the reforestation cycle in the Commune Rurale of Linko. Next year sees the start of a new three-year cycle in the neighbouring sub-prefecture of Damaro. But before that, there’s still a lot to do: First of all, we need to check that the 2023 work has been completed and that the land reforested to date has been properly marked and protected by effective firebreaks. Then we need to repeat the fire prevention and land maintenance instructions. This is also an opportunity to highlight the good examples: the model protective strips, the high germination rates, the hedgerows provided, and so on. Finally, it’s time to start harvesting seeds, plan delivery dates, identify new plot
Bringing together all the families in Linko’s arboRise family cooperative has several objectives: foster mutual trust between families provide a forum for exchanging best practice enable the families concerned to decide for themselves, without any involvement from arboRise, how the income from the carbon credits is to be distributed. This deserves some explanation. At the outset, some people thought that the project would somehow create competition between family plots and distribute more money to the families on whose plots the trees grow best. A form of rivalry between families and villages was then perceptible, with each criticising the others, convinced that they belonged to those who were doing well (an attitude not so different from what we see in Europe, where everyone considers themselves to be very virtuous in terms of CO2 emissions, compared with the others). The auditor of our carbon certification standard will not be measuring the biomass