“Trees Are Life”: How Communities in Africa Are Tackling the Climate Crisis
14th November 2025
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How do you tackle the climate crisis, adapting to extreme heat, drought, and wildfire? These are the questions that communities living along the frontlines of a changing world are being forced to face.
This December, there’s a way you can stand alongside them. During the Big Give Christmas Challenge (2nd–9th December 2025), every donation made to Tree Aid will be doubled – meaning your gift will have twice the impact. Together, we can support more families in Africa’s drylands restore their land, grow food, and tackle the effects of the climate crisis.
In Africa’s dryland regions, climate change means less rainfall, rising temperatures, and shrinking forests. The result? Poorer soils, reduced harvests, and families struggling to feed themselves or earn a living.
But that story is beginning to change.
In Burkina Faso, our Tond Tenga project is using trees as a powerful tool – to restore degraded land, capture carbon, and create new sources of income. And at the heart of it all are ordinary people leading extraordinary change.
Growing hope through restoration
Ali and Rainatou live in a small community in south-central Burkina Faso, near the border with Ghana. Parents of five, they first joined our Weoog Paani (“New Forest”) project, which worked to restore forest land across 25 communes.
Ali soon became president of his local cooperative, helping to organise community members and strengthen local livelihoods. Together, they discovered the power of collective action – and how people and nature can thrive together.
“Planting trees is good for the environment,” says Rainatou. “We've noticed that the drought is getting worse, but reforestation is helping us cope by restoring tree cover.”
Since 2024, Ali and Rainatou have been part of Tond Tenga. Building on the success of Weoog Paani, this new community-led project will run for 40 years, helping to tackle poverty and the climate crisis by restoring land, growing trees and supporting sustainable livelihoods. In just the first four years, communities will plant six million trees and restore nearly 13,000 hectares of land.
“If you don’t look after the seedlings you plant, it’s as if you’ve done nothing,” says Ali. “Trees are life. They bring us rain, protect us from the sun, and fertilise the soil. All this helps us to move forward.”
“We hope you’ll continue to support us in restoring and protecting the forest,” adds Rainatou. “Our wellbeing depends on it. Our whole lives are linked to this forest.”
How restoration works
Ali and Rainatou’s success is part of a much bigger story – one rooted in local knowledge and strengthened by innovation. Across Africa, communities are using traditional wisdom alongside new techniques to heal the land.
Water boulis
Huge, bowl-shaped pits dug into the ground collect and store rainwater. Each can hold around 2,500 cubic metres — roughly an Olympic swimming pool’s worth. These natural reservoirs provide water during the dry season, helping nearby vegetation, wildlife, and communities to flourish year-round.
💧 Read more about our water conservation techniques.
Zai pits
This ancient farming method involves digging small pits, enriching them with manure, and directing rainwater into them. The pits retain moisture, revive degraded soils, and enable crops to grow even in harsh, dry conditions.
Agroforestry
Across Africa’s drylands, farmers are embracing agroforestry – integrating trees within farmland. Far from competing with crops, trees improve soil fertility, reduce erosion, protect against floods and drought, and boost biodiversity. For smallholder farmers, it’s a way to produce more food, generate income, and safeguard the environment for generations to come.
A greener future, rooted in community
From Burkina Faso to the wider drylands of Africa, communities are proving that restoration is resilience. With the right tools, support, and trust in local knowledge, they’re transforming degraded land into thriving ecosystems – and restoring hope in the process.
The climate crisis may be global, but its solutions often begin small – in a seedling planted, a pit dug, or a community choosing to work together.
Double your impact this Christmas
Between 2nd and 9th December 2025, your donation to Tree Aid will be matched through the Big Give Christmas Challenge – helping more communities like Ali and Rainatou’s plant trees, restore land, and grow a sustainable future.
👉 Donate now and double your impact.