Warka Tree

By Liliana Usvat
Blog 241-365

Other Names : Ficus Vasta, Warka (Amargna), Maraito (Afargna), Daero (Tigrigna)

Warka Tree, a giant wild fig tree native to Ethiopia, traditionally used for public gatherings and school education. The Warka Tree is an archetype of the Biennale theme ‘Common Ground’

Description
 
It’s a big tree that can get up to 75 feet in height  and up to 60 feet in diameter in its trunk.
It has big leaves and its edible fruit is eaten during normal times but also during periods of scarcity when it’s an important food source for survival.
Not only people benefit from its fruit, but also wild animals like monkeys, birds and domestic animals too. The fruit can be eaten directly from the plant of after drying. 
 
The leaves are elliptical, reaching 25 x 20 cm, hairy, and rough to the touch.
 
Habitat

This tree can be found near rivers and into the savannah in Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, and even in Uganda and Tanzania. Since this species hasn’t been domesticated, its disappearing slowly from the Ethiopian landscape because of its use as firewood.  These trees are a very important part of the ecosystem and culture of Ethiopia and its disappearance seems unavoidable. 

Additionally, it is found in dry savannah, and grows at elevations between 1,400m and 2,500m.

Sacred Tree

These huge trees not only provide food to humans and animals when they need it most, but their root system holds the soil in place and prevents erosion. Their shade is preferred by the people of villages to protect themselves from the sun during traditional public gatherings.
It is considered sacred by the Islamic cultures of the Wollo region and as a place for ritual praying and the wodajas, traditional ceremonies where the members of a community gather to pray, for example, for the crops to grow healthy or for rain during draught periods.

Propagation method

 
Propagates by cuttings, seedlings and wildlings. The seeds are produced in figs in large numbers. The can be extracted and dried. No treatment necessary and can be stored up to two months.

WarkaWater  Condensation-harvesting bamboo tower brings clean drinking water to Ethiopia

The Italian architects Arturo Vittori and Andreas Vogler of Architecture and Vision Studio/Office, have developed with the support of the Italian Cultural Centre in Addis Ababa and the EiABC
 
(Ethiopian Institute of Architecture, Building Construction and City Development), the project “Warka Water” – a water tower hand-made with natural materials. 
 
The 9 m tall bamboo framework has a special fabric hanging inside capable to collect potable water from the air by condensation.
 
This tower creates 25 gallons of drinking water per day from thin air. It’s basically an atmospheric water collector which gathers dew from the air. It’s called the WarkaWater:
 
Links

http://www.mnn.com/leaderboard/blogs/condensation-harvesting-bamboo-tower-brings-clean-drinking-water-to-ethiopia-video
 

The Billion Tree Campaign and The Green Belt Movement

By Liliana Usvat
Blog 240-365

The Billion Tree Campaign was launched in 2006 by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) as a response to the challenges of global warming, as well as to a wider array of sustainability challenges, from water supply to biodiversity loss.
 
Its initial target was the planting of one billion trees in 2007.
One year later, in 2008, the campaign's objective was raised to 7 billion trees – a target to be met by the climate change conference that was held in Copenhagen, Denmark in December 2009. Three months before the conference, the 7 billion planted trees mark had been surpassed. In December 2011, after more than 12 billion trees had been planted, UNEP formally handed management of the program over to the not-for-profit Plant-for-the-Planet Foundation, based in Munich, Germany.

The Billion Tree Campaign was inspired by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai, founder of the Green Belt Movement. When an executive in the United States told Professor Maathai their corporation was planning to plant a million trees, her response was: “That’s great, but what we really need is to plant a billion trees.^" The campaign was carried out under the patronage of Prince Albert II of Monaco.
 
The Green Belt Movement (GBM) is an indigenous grassroots non-governmental organisation based in Nairobi, Kenya that takes a holistic approach to development by focusing on environmental conservation, community development and capacity building. Professor Wangari Maathai established the organisation in 1977, under the auspices of the National Council of Women of Kenya.
 
The Green Belt Movement organises women in rural Kenya to plant trees, combat deforestation, restore their main source of fuel for cooking, generate income, and stop soil erosion. Maathai has incorporated advocacy and empowerment for women, eco-tourism, and just economic development into the Green Belt Movement.
 
Since Maathai started the movement in 1977, over 51 million trees have been planted. Over 30,000 women trained in forestry, food processing, bee-keeping, and other trades that help them earn income while preserving their lands and resources. Communities in Kenya (both men and women) have been motivated and organised to both prevent further environmental destruction and restore that which has been damaged.
 
In 2004, Wangari Maathai received the Nobel Peace Prize – becoming the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize

India

India's Rural Development Ministry has decided to try to tackle two problems at the same time: Youth unemployment and bad air quality. It has unveiled a plan to hire youths - potentially up to 300,000 - to plant 2 billion trees along the country's highways.

One quaint village in India has adopted a wonderfully eco-conscious tradition that is actually helping to ensure a greener future with each new generation.

For every female child that's born, the community gathers to plant 111 fruit trees in her honor in the village common.
This unique tradition was first suggested by the village's former leader, Shyam Sundar Paliwal, in honor of his daughter who had passed away at a young age.

Fast Facts

• Trees are the largest and longest living organisms on earth.
• To make up for the loss of trees in the past decade, we would need to plant 130 million hectares (or 1.3 million km2), an area as large as Peru.
• Covering the equivalent of 130 million hectares would entail planting approximately 14 billion trees every year for 10 consecutive years. This would require each person to plant and care for at least two seedlings a year.
• Rehabilitating tens of millions of hectares of degraded land and reforesting the Earth is necessary to restore and maintain the productivity of soil and water resources.
• Expanding tree cover on denuded lands will reduce pressures on remaining primary forests, helping to preserve habitats and to safeguard the Earth’s biological diversity. It will also mitigate the build-up of atmospheric carbon dioxide.
• Rainforests cover only 7 per cent of the land on earth but they contain nearly half of all the tree on earth. They generate about 40 per cent of the world’s oxygen.
• In one year, an average tree inhales 12 kilograms (26 pounds) of CO2 and exhales enough oxygen for a family of four for a year.
• One hectare of trees can absorb 6 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year.
• A long haul flight will produce 3.75 tonnes of CO2 (or one tonne of carbon)

How much of the world is forested?

• Forests cover 30 per cent of the planet’s total land area. The total forested area in 2005 was just under 4 billion hectares, at least one third less than before the dawn of agriculture, some 10,000 years ago. (100 hectares is the same as 1 square kilometre).

Where are most forests found?

• Forests are unevenly distributed. The ten most forest-rich countries, which account for two-thirds of the total forested area, are the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, the United States, China, Australia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Indonesia, Peru and India.

llinks

http://www.greenearthappeal.org/united-nations-billion-tree-campaign/billion-tree-campaign

Champions of Reforestation

By Liliana Usvat
Blog 239-365



By piecing together a complex ecological puzzle, biologist Willie Smits believes he has found a way to re-grow clear cut rain forest in Borneo, saving local orangutans — and creating a thrilling blueprint for restoring fragile ecosystems.

Reforestation in this case

• created  3000 jobs
• restored micro climate
• grow agricultural crops between trees
• reduce the competition for the trees
• The crop fertilizer helps the trees
• The farmers have free land
• The orangutans get healthy food
• Reduce growing expenditures
• While speeding up ecosystem regeneration

 Fire protection for the future

Here are some other principles of Permaculture

• Create a ring of Sugar palms around the forest that are fire resistant.
• A natural forest uses the space above ground and under ground more efficient.
• Regeneration from fast growing short lived trees species that will restore the micro climate for later species.
• Create a multilayer forest of diverse trees that capture maximum of sunlight to create maximum of biomass.

The result in 3 years after reforestation 137 species of birds appear in the forest.
More rain clouds have been formed.
The climate was changed.

Concluzion

Make sure the forest stay there.

Other Project other people that are behid these projects
Sama Sarhan Reforestation Project Jordan

Geoff Layton

The greatest project I have seen so far on 10 acres of desert salty land transformed in food  forest


China

Western China is turning into a massive dust bowl. Desertification now affects fully one-third of the world's population -- and what's happening in Western China represents the largest conversion of productive land to desert anywhere in the world, consuming over one million acres of land each year. The dust isn't confined to the west: every spring, massive sandstorms roar through Beijing, blanketing the city with tons of dust.

 

 

We can start rebuilding the nature one person at a time one forest at a time in spite of governments and logging companies that see just money in the environment with no respect for the earth.



Links

http://www.ted.com/talks/willie_smits_restores_a_rainforest

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=LJ8pjOG4pXI