In the heart of Africa, The Restoration Initiative (TRI) is addressing severe forest degradation in five different zones in the southern regions of Bangui, Mbaïki, Bayanga, and Pissa, Central African Republic. This region, once teeming with biodiversity, has been degraded due to unsustainable agricultural practices and overexploitation of timber resources. TRI’s project in CAR focuses on the development of nurseries, public-private partnerships, agroforestry, governmental capacity building, and enabling and engaging local communities.
TRI’s restoration efforts in CAR are centered around addressing severe forest degradation caused by unsustainable agricultural practices and overexploitation of timber resources. These areas in CAR once boasted some of Africa’s most extensive rainforests, and are now threatened by slash-and-burn agriculture and logging. The project has been working to uplift and sustain the protected remains of what once was the third largest forest cover in Africa. TRI’s approach combines public-private partnerships and direct community engagement to restore degraded lands and rehabilitate abandoned agricultural areas, aiming to restore soil fertility and biodiversity.
Agroforestry and Community
The TRI project in CAR has made notable progress in restoring degraded landscapes. The project has successfully restored 501 hectares of degraded land through the planting of local tree species. These efforts have significantly improved the ecological health of the region, increasing the value of essential ecosystem services such as storm protection, improved soil productivity, and increased carbon storage.
The project’s progress has largely been accounted for by the involvement of the indigenous community. A large component of TRI’s restoration efforts entails community upliftment and engagement, and reforesting CAR has been no different. Much of the project’s attention has been channeled towards training, diversifying income generation, capacity building, developing local nurseries, and supporting the locals in order to prolong the project’s impact and maintain sustainable land management moving forward. Hence, 4,630 people have reaped a variety of economical, social and environmental benefits. By equipping local communities with the necessary skills and knowledge, the project has fostered a strong sense of environmental stewardship and community ownership. Furthermore, considering the rate of poverty in the Central African Republic, providing a broader range of opportunities for income generation is a critical component of sustainable development.
Policy Frameworks for Sustainable Land Management
A critical achievement of the TRI project in CAR has been its contribution to policy development. The project has facilitated the revision of the country’s Forest Code and the development of a Wood Energy Resource Management Master Plan for the Bangui/Bimbo catchment area. These policies provide a robust framework for the sustainable management and restoration of forest ecosystems, ensuring the long-term sustainability of the project’s positive impacts.
Facing challenges such as recurring socio-political instability and an energy crisis that affects logistics and restoration activities, the project has not been without its own unique obstacles. To address these particular challenges, the project has focused on developing community forests and promoting sustainable agricultural practices. This includes the establishment of nurseries to produce seedlings, providing locals with the training to uphold these nurseries, and the implementation of ecosystem restoration with local species.Indigenous peoples are an integral part of the process of landscape restoration and TRI has worked closely with the people of CAR to rejuvenate and revitalize the land. TRI CAR has proved to be a mutually constructive and beneficial process, with local communities benefiting from various economic developments and training, and the project team optimizing restoration strategies with the assistance of valuable indigenous knowledge. Furthermore, The Central African Republic has submitted a project to the LDCF focusing on climate change adaptation building on TRI interventions.