Project
Reforestation and afforestation integrated into local life by Graine de Vie

The forests of the Congo Basin are the first (and last) lung of the planet. They are also an essential reservoir of biodiversity.
Forests are threatened as well as the biodiversity they contain by deforestation. It is a phenomenon that is accelerating at the same time as the population increases.

Our goal is to propose effective solutions to fight deforestation in the Congo Basin.
It is the villagers who cut and burn the forests to improve their resources. It is therefore they who must be convinced of the benefits produced by sustainable management of their forests so that they become the actors of the reforestation of their territory.
In order to be able to create lasting change, it is essential to change mentalities, to change the relationship that communities have with their environment.

Our goal is therefore to create a link of interdependence between trees and the well-being of communities. To do this, our project is based on two pillars: CONSERVATION AND REGENERATION.

  1. CONSERVATION:
    Inspiration precedes action. Visiting a tropical permaculture farm is an inspiring experience. Our approach is based on the creation of permaculture educational centers to highlight that it is possible to adopt a new way of life, a regenerative lifestyle, that it is possible to achieve food and energy autonomy while preserving ecosystems.

  2. REGENERATION:

  • COMMUNITY NURSERIES:
    At the end of their training, students can directly access the trees they need to create their own self-fertile system via the community nurseries that we set up in the villages. All our nurseries produce forest and fertilizer trees and for the other half cash crops (fruit trees, trees producing essential oils fast-growing trees for construction needs, ornamental trees, anti-erosion trees, caterpillar trees, medicinal trees, etc.), that is to say trees useful to increase the economic or food resources of the community that chooses itself the species it wishes to plant.

  • REFORESTATION:
    In addition to these community nursery projects that are at the heart of our "reforestation integrated into local life" program, we are setting up large-scale reforestation projects that consist of completely reforesting plots of several thousand hectares based on the direct seeding technique developed by Graine de Vie. This technique of selecting, treating and planting seeds directly in the soil at the beginning of the rainy season allows us to reforest large areas quickly and cheaply in collaboration with the communities that are paid to carry out these activities.

These massive reforestation projects allow us to access the market for voluntary carbon credits and thus produce capital that communities choose to invest in the regenerative solutions presented in the permaculture school and thus transform their village into an autonomous ecological village.

This process allows us to create a virtuous circle where the more trees grow, the more they can see their standard of living increase. In this way, we create the fundamental link of interdependence between trees and the well-being of communities that is the basis for lasting change.

Discover more about us: https://grainedevie.org/about-us-en/