Speaker
Description
Ecosystem restoration is a key strategy for mitigating biodiversity loss and climate change. In the Sahel, large-scale regreening aims to reverse desertification, increase vegetation cover, and enhance ecosystem functioning. These efforts often involve the introduction or re-establishment of plant species, but the selection of species and practices varies widely across projects. Although such projects play a major role in national environmental goals, little is known about how species are selected and affect project outcomes. Here, we analyse species adopted by multiple projects in Northern Nigeria to understand the rationale for their selection, decision-making process, and socio-ecological impacts of these choices. We combined field surveys, stakeholder interviews, and project reports to document and connect project objectives with species used in restoration projects in Kano, Katsina, Jigawa, Adamawa, Yobe, Bauchi, and Gombe over the past 50 years. Our results indicate that, while projects historically relied on commercial exotic timber species, multipurpose native species are increasingly utilised, shifting objectives from the provision of industrial materials to landscape management and climate change mitigation. Our study indicates that species selection is influenced by goals defined by markets, donors, and global agendas, which are translated at the local scale through interactions among communities, farmers, nurseries, and project offices. We provide examples of long-term change that demonstrate how local economic, political, and ecological contexts reflect approaches to restoration. These insights can inform future restoration efforts across the Sahel, where scaling up successful models depends on aligning explicit goals with ecological knowledge and local practices.
| Status Group | Postdoctoral Researcher |
|---|---|
| FOR TALKS: Poster Presentation Option | No, I prefer to present only as a talk. |