After decades of drought, water is returning to the south of the Sahara Desert as ancient farming techniques and the Great Green Wall breathe new life into the Sahel |

Communities dig water-harvesting pits to restore degraded land and improve soil moisture in the Sahel.

For decades, the Sahel has symbolised environmental decline. Stretching nearly 5,900 kilometres across Africa from Senegal on the Atlantic coast to Sudan on the Red Sea, this semi-arid belt has endured recurring droughts, advancing desertification and repeated crop failures since the 1970s. Yet parts of the region are witnessing an unexpected transformation. Degraded farmland is turning green again, soils are retaining more moisture and communities are harvesting crops from land once considered beyond recovery. This revival is not being driven by futuristic technology alone. Instead, it stems from the revival of centuries-old farming practices working alongside Africa’s ambitious Great Green Wall initiative, demonstrating that restoring water to the landscape often begins with restoring the land itself.

Ancient farming techniques are helping the Sahel hold on to every drop of rain

Contrary to popular belief, the Sahel’s revival is not about creating new water sources or reversing decades of declining rainfall. It is about making the most of the rain that does fall by allowing it to soak into the soil instead of rapidly running off hardened ground.For generations, communities across Burkina Faso, Niger and other Sahelian countries developed practical techniques to capture and conserve rainfall. As prolonged droughts, population growth and land degradation intensified, many of these traditional practices fell out of use. Today, they are being revived with support from scientists and development organisations that recognise their ability to improve soil moisture, reduce erosion and restore degraded farmland.Among the most effective methods is the zai pit, a shallow planting basin dug into degraded soil before the rainy season. Farmers fill each pit with manure or compost, attracting termites that naturally loosen compacted earth. When the rains arrive, the pits capture water around crops instead of allowing it to flow away, giving seeds a much better chance of surviving prolonged dry spells.Another widely adopted technique is the construction of stone bunds, rows of rocks laid across gently sloping fields. These barriers slow the movement of rainwater, reduce soil erosion and allow more moisture to infiltrate the ground, helping crops continue growing long after rainfall has stopped.Farmers also build half-moons, semicircular earth embankments that collect runoff over larger areas. These simple structures encourage grasses, shrubs and trees to return to land that was once considered too degraded for cultivation.Perhaps the most influential practice is Farmer-Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR). Rather than planting millions of new seedlings, farmers protect and prune living tree stumps already hidden beneath degraded farmland. Existing root systems regenerate quickly, producing trees that enrich the soil, reduce evaporation, improve biodiversity and protect crops from harsh winds.Australian agronomist Tony Rinaudo, who helped popularise FMNR in Niger, has described these buried root systems as an “underground forest”. His work demonstrated that restoring degraded landscapes often begins by managing trees that already exist rather than planting entirely new forests.

Studies show land restoration is transforming parts of the Sahel

The greening of parts of the Sahel is no longer supported solely by observations from local farmers. Satellite imagery, ecological surveys and peer-reviewed research have documented measurable improvements in vegetation and land productivity across several restored landscapes. Scientists emphasise, however, that this recovery is uneven and should not be interpreted as evidence that the Sahara Desert itself is retreating. Instead, the improvements are concentrated in areas where traditional land management has been combined with long-term restoration programmes.Research published in journals including Nature Sustainability and Scientific Reports, together with satellite analyses by international organisations, has shown that restored farmland retains more moisture, supports greater vegetation cover and becomes more resilient to drought. These findings reinforce what local communities have observed for decades: healthier soils hold more water and recover more quickly after rainfall.The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that more than 166 million hectares within the Great Green Wall region remain suitable for restoration, highlighting both the scale of land degradation and the enormous opportunity for ecological recovery.Economic evidence also strengthens the case for restoration. A Nature Sustainability study led by FAO researchers found that every US$1 invested in Great Green Wall restoration generated an average return of US$1.20, with some projects delivering even greater benefits through higher agricultural productivity, healthier ecosystems and stronger rural livelihoods.According to Moctar Sacande, one of the study’s lead authors at the FAO, it is time to “change the rhetoric about the Sahel” by recognising that restoring degraded landscapes is not only an environmental necessity but also a sound economic investment.

The Great Green Wall has become Africa’s biggest restoration experiment

When the African Union launched the Great Green Wall in 2007, it was widely envisioned as an 8,000-kilometre belt of trees stretching from Senegal to Djibouti. Over time, however, the initiative evolved into a far broader landscape restoration programme.Today, the project focuses on restoring ecosystems through agroforestry, sustainable farming, natural regeneration, water conservation and community-led land management rather than simply planting trees. Its goals remain ambitious: restoring 100 million hectares of degraded land, capturing 250 million tonnes of carbon dioxide and creating 10 million green jobs by 2030.Progress has been slower than originally anticipated. According to the FAO and the United Nations, the initiative has restored around 18 million hectares of degraded land so far, equivalent to roughly 18 per cent of its overall restoration target. Funding shortages, political instability, insecurity and the sheer scale of the landscape continue to hinder progress.Even so, many restoration experts argue that the initiative’s greatest achievement lies not in the number of trees planted but in its support for locally led restoration practices that were already transforming degraded farmland across the Sahel.

Niger’s regenerated forests show why farmers are leading the recovery

No country better illustrates the power of farmer-led restoration than Niger.Beginning in the 1980s, farmers challenged the long-held belief that productive farmland had to be cleared of trees. Instead, they began protecting naturally regenerating shoots emerging from living root systems buried beneath their fields.The results have been remarkable. Today, more than 200 million trees have regenerated naturally across approximately five million hectares of farmland, making FMNR one of the world’s largest examples of community-led ecological restoration. These regenerated trees enrich soils, improve crop yields, provide livestock fodder and firewood, reduce wind erosion and help farmland retain moisture during increasingly unpredictable rainy seasons.Perhaps most remarkably, this transformation required little expensive infrastructure. It depended instead on local knowledge, farmer participation and patience.Chris Reij, a Senior Fellow at the World Resources Institute and one of the leading experts on land restoration in the Sahel, has argued that one of the region’s greatest environmental successes came not from planting vast numbers of new trees but from enabling farmers to protect those already growing naturally beneath the soil. His research demonstrates that farmer-managed regeneration can restore millions of hectares of degraded land at relatively low cost while strengthening food security and climate resilience.

From Senegal to Burkina Faso, communities are proving restoration works

Across the western Sahel, similar success stories continue to emerge.In Burkina Faso, the revival of traditional zai pits and stone bunds has transformed land once considered too degraded for cultivation. The pioneering work of Yacouba Sawadogo demonstrated that ancient water-harvesting techniques could restore soil fertility and significantly improve crop production even under harsh climatic conditions.In Senegal, Great Green Wall projects combine native tree planting with agroforestry, sustainable grazing, rainwater harvesting and community-led land restoration. These initiatives are restoring degraded ecosystems while creating new sources of income through forest products, gum arabic and climate-resilient agriculture.Although the approaches vary from country to country, they share a common principle: restoration is most successful when local communities lead the process. Increasingly, scientists and development organisations recognise indigenous knowledge not as an outdated farming tradition but as a vital component of climate adaptation.

The Sahel’s recovery remains promising but fragile

Despite encouraging progress, researchers caution against portraying the Sahel as fully restored. Climate change continues to bring rising temperatures and increasingly erratic rainfall, while conflict across parts of Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Sudan has disrupted restoration programmes and limited access for conservation workers. Large parts of the Great Green Wall region remain difficult to reach because of insecurity, slowing restoration despite growing international investment.Even so, the lessons emerging from the Sahel are attracting global attention. Rather than relying solely on costly engineering projects, the region demonstrates that restoring ecosystems often begins with understanding how water moves naturally through the landscape and how communities have managed it for centuries. By combining indigenous knowledge with modern ecological science, countries across the Sahel are showing that even some of the world’s most degraded landscapes can become productive once again.