Senegal

60 hectares

Local and Community Projects Amistad Senegal (Petite Cte): This environmental and agricultural project, carried out in collaboration with women's groups, aims to strengthen financial empowerment and food security. Activities include the renovation of an eco-tourism camp and the construction of a food processing unit in Popenguine and Toubab Dialaw. Men and Land (Tambacounda): This agroforestry project is restoring 245 hectares of degraded land in the commune of Golmi, planting 367,500 trees. Local communities actively participate in species selection and land management, with a focus on economic empowerment and climate resilience. Land tenure insecurity: The 1964 law on the national domain, which governs 95% of the land, is ill-suited to local realities, leading to conflicts between farmers, herders, and investors, as well as land grabs. Land degradation and desertification: Aridity, unsustainable agricultural practices (deforestation, overgrazing), and climate change reduce land productivity, affecting 34% of arable land. Use conflicts: Competition for land between agriculture, livestock, and conservation exacerbates social tensions, requiring inclusive approaches.

20 hectars hectares

Firstly, at Hibiscus, the organization is restoring a combined total of 20 hectares of lands acros Senegal and Gambia, working with widows and religious groups to advance permacultural practices, helping nomadic communities to live with farming communities in climate-hostile settings. The organization do this through community-based teaching, learning and mentorship, centering the mosques in the arethrough community-and-faith-based design, the organization collectively design systems that seeks to create sustainable and self-sufficient ecosystems by mimicking natural patterns. The organization do this by emphasizing ethical land use, resource management, and a holistic approach to living in harmony with the environment for agriculture, gardening, and broader aspects of life, aiming for low-impact living and responsible production. Lastly, the organization works with women in order to advance leadership roles in the restoration proces as well as knowledge production, translation and distribution of indigenous and faith-based knowledge for land restoration. These tensions manifests themselves through the increasing encroachment of their lands and farms by herding communities, who are often just seeking grazing land for their animals. The organization remain hopeful and their current approach seems to be working however, the organization is not sure how much time the organization can buy before the organization face more climate change induced violence and encroachments.

While Company for the Development and Management of the Senegal River Valley Lands works for a national development agency (SAED) rather than a faith organization, The organization activelys collaborate with rural communitiesmany of which are influenced or led by religious figureson sustainable land use and restoration activities. Through farmer training sessions, The organization promotes agroecological practices such as assisted natural regeneration, agroforestry, and soil conservation. These activities often involve local religious leaders who serve as moral and social anchors in their communities. Company for the Development and Management of the Senegal River Valley Lands is currently working on a plan to co-design a pilot land restoration project with a Muslim religious community in the Kolda region. This initiative will focus on the rehabilitation of degraded land using nature-based solutions and faith-inspired messaging to mobilize local participation. The project aims to demonstrate how environmental restoration can align with spiritual values of care, balance, and intergenerational responsibility. Through this masterclas, Additionally, there is a gap in technical capacity at the local level and a need for more culturally and spiritually relevant restoration approaches that can mobilize community support and long-term commitment.