News and Activities

Members of the association play a “serious game” developed for arboRise by the ForDev of the ETHZ. The aim? to better understand the stakes of our action in Guinea. By playing it is easier to put yourself in the shoes of the families participating in our project. By observing the other players, we also discover how others react differently to the same reality. Because a game is also a way of resolving tensions that may arise during a change. Whether it is the construction of windmills in Switzerland or the creation of a protected nature reserve in a tropical country, the ecological transition brings about changes that disrupt the lives of the inhabitants. Any conflicts that arise can be resolved in court or behind bars. But these are win-lose outcomes that are not sustainable. It is preferable to seek an amicable settlement, through mediation for example. The serious games developed

Our collaboration with the Water and Forests Department of the Ministry of the Environment and Sustainable Development (MEDD) is essential for the smooth running of the project. After a year of operations in the field, we take stock of the situation with Mr Kemo Camara, the head of the Water and Forests section in Kérouané.

There are several steps to making a seeds bomb (or seedball). The first step is to mix the seed species in order to obtain a good specific diversity for each field: Then all the ingredients are brought together: clay from the lowlands, charcoal which must first be ground into dust, ash which will act as an insecticide and water to make a paste out of it all, which you then roll in your hand. In some families, everyone works at it: father, mother and children. In this respect, yes, we too ask ourselves: is this child exploitation? Should we forbid these families to work together? Of course, the children have to go to school …but what happens if there is no school within 10 kilometres? There are many difficult questions that need to be answered with sensitivity. After the coating comes the drying stage, always impressive in the villages as

Sharing learnings is one of the statutory goals of arboRise. Why? We are convinced that by joining forces we altogether will have a greater impact. And if other organizations chose to adopt our low-tech and low-cost methods and manage to increase the area they reforest, it will be very beneficial for the climate. It is also important to create policies that favor nature-based solutions and reforestation that takes into account the expectations of local populations. That’s why we spent two days in Berlin with the class of students of the Joint Master in Global Economic Governance and Public Affairs (GEGPA) of the International Center for European Training and the Luiss School of Government. Using the example of arboRise, we discussed the challenges of reforestation and the solutions available to governments to promote natural, participatory and sustainable solutions. Because the idea was not only to transmit our knowledge but to benefit

We have decided to extend the scope of our reforestation campaign to 500 hectares in view of the spectacular progress made by our team in the field over the last 2 months. After convincing 180 families to join our project in January and February, i.e. 20 families more than expected, and as there were only 70 families left to convince in March and April, we quickly made the choice to gather 100 new families, i.e. 100 additional hectares. 100 hectares is a very important number of trees: about 50’000 new trees. From a financial point of view, this means increasing the annual budget by about CHF 20,000, which our resources easily allow. These 500 hectares will be planted with 2’500’000 seed pellets from 250 different trees. A greater number of trees planted means a greater contribution to the fight against global warming, since a tropical forest of one hectare absorbs

Do you remember the arboRise game ? On 8th February in Paris, we tested a playful approach to understanding decision-making processes in a village community. One month later, Léa Ackerer, commissioned by ETH’s ForDev, tests the game in the field, in the small village of Diaradouni and then in Manakoro, in the south of the Linko sub-prefecture. The arboRise game is very simple: the four players receive cards representing their fields, with different degrees of fertility. They can then play their cards (cultivate their fields) in several zones, representing the types of crops: food crops (cassava, fonio, etc.), cashew nut plantations for cash, or agroforests with arboRise. Each type of crop involves specific costs and income, as in real life. And as in real life, one can choose to spread out one’s activities or “bet” everything on a single crop. What did this experience bring out? In addition to the

Do you remember “anything is possible“? The new arboRise tree sowing adventure in Switzerland, by bringing together “seed families” and “land families”? Well, preparations are well underway, with a first visit in situ and the choice of tree species to be sown. First of all, it is necessary to understand the nature of the land: type of soil, sunshine, altitude (and therefore average temperature), slope… What is the history of the plot, what could be its future? After answering, even partially, these questions, comes the creative moment: what does the owner wish to see growing there? Tree sowing, yes, but what? stately trees or rather fruit trees? formal garden aligned with the line or rather English garden? forest garden, tasty forest? should there be a small path to reach the trees? and now which species of trees? Then comes the distribution of species according to the location of the participants: