Niger restored about 5 million hectares of savanna without planting new trees. It turned out that the root systems of many trees had remained underground and were waiting for suitable conditions to send up new shoots.
At one time trees here were cut down for firewood and to clear land for agriculture. Drought, livestock grazing and soil degradation worsened the situation. But in 1983 an agricultural adviser, Tony Rinaudo, noticed that even on bare ground green shoots were coming up from old roots.
This gave rise to the method of Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration. Farmers protect young shoots, leave the strongest and prune the excess. By 2020 more than 200 million trees had been restored using this approach.
Niger officially recognized the method as a national soil restoration approach in 2020. Today it is used in more than 20 countries.
