Future trajectory
Native species that have been rare for decades are coming back, such as Strychnos spinosa and Annona senegalensis (Rinaudo, 2012). Native vegetation is projected to increase in FMNR lands although some lands may combine historical and novel elements. Exotic species such as the Australian acacias, may eventually dominate. Also, FMNR farmers will continue to adapt traditional woodland management while integrating new techniques of protecting and managing native trees and shrubs (Haglund et al., 2011; WRI, 2008). The autonomy and mobilization of knowledge that this practice invokes will help to rebuild a socio-ecological resilience and community capacity to face future uncertainties and changes.
Around the world, changing climatic conditions meet head on with poverty (UNCCD, 2014). While further scientific research is needed on FMNR’s effects on soil and micro-climate, (Pye-Smith, 2013), FMNR and other innovative traditional agroforestry practices will likely be scaled up in larger re-greening projects in Africa and areas around the world affected by desertification. The Great Green Wall Initiative endorsed by the twelve Sahel and West African countries acknowledges FMNR in Maradi as one of the most successful reforestation cases (World Bank, 2011). The socioeconomic and environmental success of FMNR as a simple and inexpensive sustainable land management strategy in Maradi, and Niger more broadly, has inspired other initiatives, such as the Ethiopian government declaration to restore 15 million hectares of degraded lands using FMNR (Rinaudo, 2011; World Vision Australia, 2014), and the spread of the practice to select deforested areas in South-East Asia. |
Returning native specie Stychnos spinosa Source:_World Vision Australia
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