Environmental Issues. Case Study.

In the village of Piela, Lankoande Dialoaga manages “The Association For The Promotion of Self Help” (ASAP) Here the community is tackling environmental issues in a variety of ways.

In the primary and secondary schools the pupils and students learn how to cultivate small areas of land and plant and grow vegetables and trees.

Tree Nursery

The saplings,” young trees” are planted out, but must be well cared for, without rain the trees will die and have to be planted again.

They must be protected from grazing farm animals. The people have also built stone lines across the slope of the land to help to retain water and prevent soil erosion.

The trees are managed and can only be felled for firewood with the agreement of the management group.

The wood is then stacked to dry out read for use as a fuel. The stones are uses to build stone lines across the fields.

The climate, of a long dry season followed by a wet season can cause serious soil erosion, particularly on farmed land. The hot dry soils, particularly if there is little protection by plants, can be washed away. To prevent the topsoil being washed away the farmers place stones across the slopes to reduce the runoff and keep the water in the soil.

In school pupils are also taught how to grow crops.

The government has introduced irrigation schemes.

Using irrigation can increase the crop production by up to 50%, but it is expensive to build.

Solar and wind power could be used to reduce the use of wood as a fuel, but this technology is very expensive to install and maintain. These panels are near the village of Piela.