Ecological recovery of desiccated areas in Africa. By: Frank Landman Last week, António Guterres said during the COP27 in Egypt: “humanity is on a highway to climate hell with our foot still on the accelerator'. When you hear the stories about Somalia and other areas in East Africa where the drought leads to a huge famine, his comment is more than justified. And yet it is also good to offer perspective and show good inspiring examples. After my example about the Pasig River, now another inspiring example. These are projects of Justdiggit, an organization from Amsterdam that is committed to nature restoration in Africa. With the slogan: 'Cooling down the planet', Justdiggit tries to make the dry areas in Africa green again. They have now restored 300,000 hectares of land and brought back 9.7 million trees. They also focus very much on raising awareness and work together with the local population. What actually happens is nothing more or less than digging trenches and constructing dams. The original idea comes from inventor Peter Westerveld. He developed a system in which rainwater can be collected by digging trenches and constructing dams and absorbed by the soil, which then becomes saturated again. As a result, the vegetation will return automatically. The gullies and vegetation prevent further erosion. The evaporation of moisture from the new vegetation provides cooling and more regular precipitation. It is a misconception that it does not rain in dry areas. It does happen, often briefly and violently. Because the soil is hard, the water drains away before it can infiltrate the soil. These pits of about 5 meters retain the water and can contain 2100 liters of water. This has the following advantages, among others: -Temperature drop: vegetation cools the environment by providing shade, the temperature difference can be more than 10 degrees Celsius. -CO2 absorption by vegetation. -Transpiration (the evaporation of water from plants) cools the environment and increases the moisture content in the air. -Soil recovery: because more vegetation means more organic matter, and therefore more nutrients and more water in the soil. -Increase in crop yields & income for local population through land restoration. -Reducing vegetation and restoring ecosystems improves biodiversity and also the living environment of many different animal and plant species. In addition to digging holes, a technique is also used to allow felled trees to grow back (the roots are often still intact). This is called 'Kisiki Hai' (living stump) in Swahili. Justdiggit has a high ambition. She wants to make Africa greener in 10 years and thereby cool the earth! Africa is 30,370,000 km2 which is 20.4% of the total land area of ​​the Earth. A daring challenge, but above all one that is positive and has already shown considerable results! In the Achterhoek where I live they say D'ran! In other words: Just dig it! https://youtu.be/claR4agoLew