The Tree-Growing Movement Restoring Africa’s Vital Landscapes | Wanjira Mathai | TED

I would love to introduce you to three remarkable women I know. Meet Jane Maigua, Charity Wangui and Loise Maina. Now, these three women are restoration champions. They started a company six years ago in my hometown of Nairobi, purchasing macadamia nuts from farmers, processing them and selling them around the world. Today, Exotic EPZ is in partnership with 9,000 farmers across the country. Imagine for a minute the tree-growing movement these women could catalyze across Kenya. Now here's another group of women that I absolutely adore. These are the women of Maragua. These women are discovering the wonders of bamboo. They are planting bamboo and sharing across their communities. They're using bamboo for entrepreneurship. They're using bamboo for restoration, and they're using it for firewood. Now these restoration champions have something in common. They are using nature to reduce poverty, accelerate the re-greening of Africa and secure livelihoods. Now, this is part of the AFR100 Movement an Africa-wide initiative to restore 100 million hectares of land by 2030. All on a continent where we know 60 percent of soils are degraded. And this is only the beginning because the restoration potential in Africa is 750 million hectares, equal to the size landmass of Australia. And this on a continent where 60 percent of the land is degraded. Now, why is this important? This is because restoration breaks the cycle of degradation. It is at once about climate mitigation and cushioning communities against the worst impacts of climate change. My organization, the World Resources Institute, is working with AFR100 very closely. We are helping them to raise resources needed for restoration, to accelerate the establishment of sound policies so that restoration is incentivized. And also establishing platforms like this one, so restoration champions have the platforms and there’s training that they need to accelerate restoration. Now without these local leaders, local wisdom, local knowledge and the passion that drives restoration champions, scaling restoration on the African continent would virtually be impossible. Now, my name is Wanjira Mathai, and I have a personal connection to trees. When we were growing up, my brothers and I, our mother, Wangari Mathai, who founded the Green Belt Movement and won the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize for this work -- (Applause) Thank you. (Applause) She spent hours sharing just how beautiful Kenya was when she was growing up. The river’s, crystal clear. The hillsides and valleys, covered in forests. The plains were teeming with wildlife and the soils, she would say, produced the most delicious sweet potatoes and vegetables. Hunger was virtually unknown. By the 1970s, a lot had changed. Landscapes were already degraded, rivers were silted with precious topsoil. The plains were already losing their wildlife, and the soils were largely degraded. Now, half a century on, and the process of degradation has only accelerated. And not only in Kenya. 27 of the 40 most climate-vulnerable countries in the world are found on the African continent. And hunger and drought, for those farmers, 60 percent of them who live on the African continent, is an everyday occurrence. But why is this important?

Because restoration reverses and breaks the cycle of degradation. And there is hope. Because here is an example, the Green Belt Movement. The Green Belt Movement is an example of a restoration champion in Kenya. 50 million trees planted by a network of 5,000 women today. And they do this by organizing themselves into groups, generating tree nurseries, collecting seeds themselves that they sow, generate seedlings and plant on public land and private land. This is the genius of restoration champions. Now, I have seen this work firsthand in a forest not too far from where I live, the Aberdare Forest. This is one of my favorite forests. A few years ago it was degraded, but thanks to the pioneering work of the Green Belt Movement and many others like them, this forest has largely been restored. And I love spending time in this forest because as far as the eye can see are trees. You could almost see them drawing out carbon dioxide and pumping out oxygen, holding on to precious topsoil. And the crystal clear waterfalls that supply the rivers of Nairobi, the city where I live. AFR100 will take practices like these across the African continent and replicate them not merely to halt deforestation, but to reverse it. Because that's what is needed. Now, it's not uncommon for people to say that initiatives like those supported by AFR100 are too small or too risky for meaningful investments. But our work at AFR100 shows that not only are these initiatives economical and transformative, they make financial sense. Our research also shows that initiatives like these that are locally led and managed are 20 times more likely to deliver long-term success. And they are also more likely to deliver economic and environmental benefits. So if we invest in initiatives like Tilaa in Ghana, AFR100, the Green Belt movement, GreenPort in Kenya and ARCOS in Rwanda, they will in turn invest in thousands and thousands of restoration champions who will restore their landscapes and restore their livelihoods. Now, this is exactly the sort of inclusive transformation we need to see across the African continent. Now all my life, I was made acutely aware of just how precious green vegetation truly is. Nature is the source of everything good my mother would tell me all the time. You see, this vision we have to re-green the African continent, it's not only possible, it is vital. It is our life support system. Now, many of us here despair that we are the generation that is destroying the planet. But we don't have to be. We can be the restoration generation. Thank you. (Applause)