Farmer-led environment and land rehabilitation activities in east and southern Africa led to almost 2.5 million trees and seedlings being planted, and tens of thousands of hectares of degraded farmland restored, in work that Self Help Africa supported in four countries in east and southern Africa, last year.

A total of over 50,000 farming households worked on environmentally focussed projects that were designed to restore degraded farm land, support communities to adapt to the effects of changing climate, and increase farming productivity.

Two of these projects, in Malawi and Kenya, were backed by Global Evergreening Alliance (GEA), a partnership of environmental organisations that is working to rehabilitate degraded land and support a sustainable farming future for local communities. 

• With GEA support, over a third of a million trees were planted and a further 260,000 seedlings raised and distributed in the far north of Malawi, with  close to 9,000 rural households engaged in activities to restore 1,100 acres (458 hectares) of land that had become degraded as a result of a combination of factors including climate stress, poor land management,  deforestation and over grazing. 

• Meanwhile, in Kenya,  Self Help Africa were members of a multi-agency consortium that planted 1.4 million trees with the backing of GEA. Additionally, Self Help Africa supported 31,500 farming families to implement farming and land restoration practices on their farms, in the country’s Rift Valley.

• In Ethiopia, over half a million seedlings were planted to stabilise soils, create new sources of fodder for livestock, and provide fuel and an income for farming families. On one project, 85 hectares of degraded landwas rehabilitated through community-led action. 

• Project work in Zambia included farmer-managed natural regeneration in Kafue flats that included work on 16,000 acres land, including communal forests, wetlands, rivers, streams and other environmentally sensitive landscapes. Over 40,000 acres of land was brought under agro-forestry management, while 4,500 households received training in land restoration and environmental management. 
  
  50 local Natural Resource Management (NRM) groups were supported – half of them new – and 30 community tree nurseries were established, providing small-holder farming communities with tens of thousands of tree seedlings to plant.

• In Ireland, planning is underway for the fifth annual ‘Plant the Planet’ visit by Irish GAA stars to Africa.  The event, a fundraiser that is organised by Self Help Africa in collaboration with Alan Kerins’ Warriors for Humanity and the Gaelic Players Association (GPA) will bring 40 players to Kenya in late 2026.  To date the initiative has raised more than €1.4m, and has supported programmes that have planted millions of trees.