Successful tree planting in the Sahel

“The tree is life” says a popular adage to translate the importance of the tree in human life and ecosystems. Trees play a vital role in maintaining and recovering soil fertility, improving the microclimate for crop production, cleaning up air from our atmosphere, providing shade and shelter for birds and other living things, reducing runoff of soil water, thereby increasing infiltration and recharging of groundwater. So it is the life of the tree that must be protected to protect human life. In Sahel, the disappearance of plant cover, due to the worsening climate, overgrazing and the need for fuelwood and timber increasingly poses the problem of sustainable development and the provision of vital environmental services. It pushes women further down the slopes in search of firewood, making access to fodder difficult.