CarbonBrake has been working with the village of Nayakla to re-forest unproductive land. The new forest lies to the south east of Banfora, some six hours from Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso. The village of Nayakla can only be reached by motorbike (locally known as “moto”) and lies some 15 km from the nearest surfaced road. The head of the village is Monsieur Sory and he has allocated some of the village lands for use by CarbonBrake to establish the new forest. This is also fully supported by the mayor of the province through his advisor, Monsieur Makosa.
Tree seedlings (Nere and Karite) are sourced locally and many villagers are employed to assist in the planting, watering and maintenance activities. Water is drawn from a purpose-built well, built by another Monsieur Sory, also funded by CarbonBrake.
The village, Nayakla, has no running water, no sanitation, and no electricity. The new forest is being planted and maintained by the villagers. This is their sole source of regular income and enables them to plan and sustain the village. It will help to provide fresh water drawn from a borehole, better sanitation through more elaborate and better excavated lavatories and, in the short term, a generator to provide lighting at night (we are looking at a solar powered alternative).
The growing forest will attract wildlife and increase local biodiversity. A continual problem in the area is soil erosion due to poor soil and the increasingly torrential annual rains. The forest will help to stabilise large areas of land holding back desertification and, in time, reversing it.
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