Growing the Wealth of the Poor - World Resources Institute

W O R L D R E S O U R C E S 2 0 0 8TRENDS IN VEGETATION INDEX, 1982–1999THE GREENING OF NIGER: KEY DATES144From Famine to Food:The Revegetation of NigerThe farmer-led transformation of Niger’s countryside over thepast quarter-century stemmed from an ecological and humanitariancrisis that threatened the lives and livelihoods of millionsof people and undermined the country’s ability to sustain itself.Through the early 1900s, land use in Niger was characterizedby sparse rural populations cultivating small fields amidstsurrounding bush. Families were smaller, yields were sufficient,and there were ample supplies of timber from naturalwoodlands. Fields were left fallow, and trees and shrubs wereregenerated to provide extra wood before being cleared forplanting (Winterbottom 2008).Land clearing and tree-felling became more common in the1930s, as the French colonial government pushed Nigerienfarmers to grow export crops and implemented policies thatprovided disincentives for farmers to care for their land. Suchdisincentives included a new land law that established the nationalgovernment as the owner of all trees and required Nigeriens topurchase permits to use them (Brough and Kimenyi 2002).Perversely, the positive outcomes of the effective Frenchhealth care system, namely higher life expectancy and lowerinfant mortality, also increased strain on natural resources(Brough and Kimenyi 2002). So by the time the post-colonialgovernment took power in 1960, Niger’s resources were alreadystretched thin. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, this pressuremultiplied with the policies of the new government, rapidpopulation growth, and a series of devastating droughts.Niger’s postcolonial government extended its predecessor’spolicy of state ownership over all forest resources. Hoping forbetter enforcement of the forestry law, it made the ForestryService into a paramilitary institution (USAID et al. 2002:42). Its■ 1935: French law asserts that all natural resources in Niger, includingtrees, belong to the state■ 1960: Independence from France; new government maintains naturalresource rules and begins stricter enforcement with paramilitaryForest Service■ 1969 -1973: 4-year drought cripples country■ 1975: Multiple donors and NGOs enter Niger to improve food securityand combat desertification, including CARE International’s MajjiaValley Project■ 1983: Serving in Mission (SIM) begins implementing Farmer-Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR) as part of its MaradiIntegrated Development Project (MIDP)■ 1984 -1985: MIDP teams with World Food Program’s Food for WorkProgram in 95 villages in Maradi in response to drought■ 1985: Government creates Plan to Combat Desertification■ 1987: Transitional government’s Rural Code Secretariat coordinateswith international aid groups to revise Rural Code and naturalresource governance regulations■ 1993: New Rural Code signed, transferring tree ownership toproperty owners■ 1996: Coup d’état results in suspended donor assistance■ 1998: Legislation to implement Rural Code at village level enacted■ 2004: Rural Code enforcement begins at village level■ 2005: Food shortages due to drought, locust infestation, andpopulation pressures; farmers practicing FMNR and soil and waterconservation techniques fare better than those that do not■ 2007: Satellite images show that over 5 million ha of Niger has newvegetation thanks to regeneration efforts of previous twenty years