Burkina Faso lies on the edge of the Sahel. In the dry season in spring, temperatures here are around 35 degrees. Due to climate change, the drought is also increasing here from year to year. Water is a precious commodity and limits not only food production but also the necessary reforestation of the land. Together with our partner Climate Sol, we are working on sustainable solutions for climate and soil. Dynamic agroforestry in combination with an efficient pyrolysis digester for the environmentally friendly production of plant charcoal, is the basis for securing life in harmony with nature. This project is currently paused due to the current unrest in Burkina Faso. Unfortunately, this makes it impossible to continue the project at present.
Start: 2020
End: still open
Near the capital Ouagadougou
Burkina Faso boasts a rich wildlife: In addition to hippos, elephants, buffalos, lions and leopards, you can also find gazelles and antelopes, various species of monkeys such as the anubis baboon and the hussar monkey, reptiles such as crocodiles or geckos and also numerous bird species such as the spur-thighed cuckoo or the scarlet shrike.
Most of the landscape in Burkina Faso consists of briar and dry savannahs with few trees. Instead, the landscape is characterised by grasses and thorny plants.
"Prosperity through regeneration" is the motto of our partner organisation Climate Sol in Burkina Faso. Their goal: to create sustainable solutions for climate and soil. Making the seemingly impossible possible. Naturefund helps in the relevant places: A cooker that produces vegetable charcoal, a wastewater treatment system that produces fertile black soil and Dynamic Agroforestry as the key to prosperity through reforestation. This is the recipe for a sustainable upward spiral that gives space to nature in times of climate change, promotes biodiversity and provides food security at the same time.
Since 2013, Climate Sol has been working in Burkina Faso, together with the Society for the Promotion and Development of Environmental Technologies and the Technical University of Hamburg and the 12-country University 2IE in Ouagadougou, on wastewater and energy solutions that are good for the climate and good for the people. One Nafagaz - as the miracle stove is called - binds half a tonne of CO2, creates 600 m² of fertile soil and saves 500 m² of savannah forest from deforestation - every year! More on the topic of vegetable carbon.
Nafa in the language of the "Moree" means "a desirable good solution that I want to have".
Nafasan - the name of the treatment plant, the cooker Nafagaz and the method Dynamic Agroforestry form the triad for a perfect circular economy that recycles water and nutrients and binds CO2 back into the soil. With the support of Naturefund and our sponsors, Climate Sol aims to become an innovation hub for this type of African circular economy. Naturefund helps Climate Sol to spread its ideas in Africa and at the same time to provide a sustainable solution for agriculture. First projects with Nafgaz have already started in Malawi. Madagascar and Kenya are in the planning stage. Now we are supporting the construction of a training and development centre near the capital Ouagadougou. 1.6 hectares of land have already been secured in the immediate vicinity of the city. Naturfund has already financed the fence, now it is time for the most important stage and the starting signal for dynamic agroforestry.
A solar well secures the water supply in the dry season and supplies 20 plots of land on which the women of our cooperative can produce vegetables even during the dry season. Especially during the dry season, the price for 1 kg of tomatoes rises to the equivalent of 1 €, which is a necessary additional income for the 20 families in view of a monthly wage of 90 €.
The region does have large groundwater resources at a shallow depth (about 2-12 metres). The solar well is the key to securing the livelihoods of at least 20 families and to building the future-oriented training centre. The cultivation method Dynamic Agroforestry is the next pillar of the basic supply. We want to set up several demonstration plots where families and women gardeners will be trained in Dynamic Agroforestry through knowledge transfer and practical assistance. We are building a workshop to teach sheet metal workers in Nafagaz stove construction and students from the University of 2IE in wastewater technology. Together with Climate Sol and the cooperation with the University 2IE, we want to research and spread knowledge about this project in order to regenerate more and more habitat for nature.
At the beginning of our project, Burkina Faso was one of the most stable democracies in Africa. Unfortunately, the tide has now turned. In September 2022, Burkina Faso experienced its second coup in less than nine months, plunging the country into political instability. One of the triggers was the siege of the city of Djibo, which has a population of 60,000, by the terrorist group Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin - JNIM, an offshoot of Al-Qaeda. In addition, attacks by jihadists in the tri-border region of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger continue to increase.
As of September 2023, the government of Burkina Faso only controls 60 per cent of the country's territory. More than 800,000 people are cut off from the outside world and, according to the International Rescue Committee (NRC), 42,000 people are at risk of starvation. It is not possible to continue our project under the current circumstances. We will inform you here as soon as there are any new developments.
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