Standing at the edge of the escarpment, you feel both heat and cold at once. The weather itself seems conflicted, mirroring the uneasy relationship between humans and nature. As your gaze stretches across the horizon, the desert is expanding aggressively, creeping relentlessly into the highlands of Tigray. This is our challenge for 2025: to push back against desertification and deforestation, to build a living barrier that halts the advancement of the desert and rekindles trust between humanity and nature.
We are drawing the line, no more deforestation and being loyal to nature to be cherished by kind nature. As the desert spreads, we must act swiftly and decisively, matching its pace or surpassing it. If we fail, we risk losing nature’s delicate balance, its unwavering gifts, and falling once again into the vicious cycle of poverty and recurring droughts, realities we all know for several times.
This year, the Desa’a team is taking a critical step by restoring nearly 2,800 hectares along the desert frontier between Tigray and Afar. This is not just a planting effort, it’s a fight for environmental resilience and sustainable livelihoods. Together with six villages and over 9,000 households, we will plant and manage close to half a million native tree species, nurturing 2.7 million seedlings, saplings, and mature trees. These trees will not only take root, they will thrive to pushing back the desert and breathing life into the Desa’a community and beyond.
We are deeply grateful to our communities and our reliable partner, Tigray Bureau of Agriculture and Natural Resource for their unwavering commitment and long collaboration. Along the border, we witness the dedication of people from both Tigray and Afar. Farming and pastoralist communities are awakening to the consequences of mismanaging nature. This year’s collective action to reverse the damage is nothing short of inspiring, especially in the Dagahabur community where Tigregna and Afaregna-speaking communities are working side by side.

The forest guards and community members from Dagahabur shared their amazement at nature’s resilience: “We left the area protected for just a few months, and everything flourished again. The olives, junipers, and Rhus spp. all returned from stumps. Nature is kind; it does not seek revenge for what we’ve done over decades. Thanks to WeForest, we have seen this rebirth and learned to behave properly, to support nature, and let nature support us. Organizations like WeForest are not only transforming landscapes, they are also reshaping lives and human behaviors, teaching us how to live in harmony with nature. Today, we see leopards again, dik-diks and Gazelles jumping through the undergrowth, finding refuge. WeForest, you are not only planting trees with us, you are also bringing life back. Please reach more villages, more people.”