Roos Nijpels-Cieremans
Rich Forests • Land restoration • Productive ecosystems • Non Timber Forest Products • Communities regreen the Sahel • Project leader • Forest Garden Products • Food forests
I live with passion for nature and a compassion for human kind. I am a NGO rooted social entrepreneur building partnerships with a win on ecology and economy.
Dedicated, motivated and passionated, are the words that people use to describe me. For years I have worked with indigenous communities in Asia, farmers in India and the Philippines and small organizations worldwide. I enjoyed providing opportunities to grow small and medium enterprises of Non Timber Forest Products while maintaining and restoring the remaining pockets of rainforests. This work brought me deep into the forests where you start to learn to appreciate the strength of humans to cope with fast changes and rooted traditions and culture. It makes you think deeply about the choices made on high political level driven by those in power and with control over the common goods. How can we work towards a world that provides sufficient opportunities for all?
I have found my part of the answer to deal with this challenge in Rich Forests. Rich Forests brings together the local realities, the experiences and knowledge gained by generations of living in the forests with science, technology and agro-ecology/Analog forestry. I am inspired to function as a bridge between those who are dedicated to contribute to a sustainable (food) production and those with the knowledge how to improve production systems and those that have finance to support this.
Besides having been project leader for the Fair Green and Global alliance for over 2 years, I am since 2018 project leader for the Communities regreen the Sahel-program. An add to my previous experiences both in region and method for land restoration (Assisted Natural Regeneration).
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Alternative
Rich Forests
Rich Forests promotes a sustainable and future-proof production system and supports, among other things, the transformation of degraded land into food forests. With this, people provide for their livelihood, increase their income and at the same time restore soil and biodiversity.
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Alternative
Regreening
In various countries in the Sahel, vast tracts of land have been restored by the local population by nurturing what spontaneously springs from the soil and protecting the sprouts from cattle and hazards.
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External link / 19 June 2020
The social practice of regreening the Sahel (Annual Report 2019)
In the first two years of the programme "Communities Regreen the Sahel", more than 10,000 farmers have been trained in Farmer-Managed Natural Regeneration and the practice has expanded to more than 44,000 ha. Moreover, the number of agreements by farmers and nomadic pastoralists has increased significantly, which is important to avoid conflict over land use.
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Publication / 23 December 2019
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External link / 29 May 2019
Communities regreen the Sahel (Annual Report 2018)
Even as climate change intensifies these challenging conditions, the Sahel need not become a desert. Unsustainable agricultural practices and overgrazing are among the main factors causing land degradation in the Sahel, which is threatening the lives and livelihoods of millions of people. Fortunately, organisations like CRESA in Niger have shown that with the right approach, desertification of the Sahel can be reversed.
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Publication / 29 January 2019
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Publication / 28 January 2019
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Publication / 1 July 2016
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Publication / 22 December 2015
