VILLAGE REFORESTATION IN MALI (SAHEL AIP)

Project management will be by Mali"s Regional Forestry Service (RFS). The project will expand RFS efforts at village reforestation, undertake new interventions to increase firewood production and conservation, and mobilize village participation in reforestation activities. The project will have three main components. First, two nurseries of one ha each will be established, and nursery laborers trained. By the third year, each nursery will be producing at its capacity of 30,000 seedlings per year. Seedlings will be distributed to families for use in village forestry intervention programs. Expansion of the RFS extension program will be the project"s second component. Teams composed of one Peace Corps volunteer, one Community Development Agent, and one RFS employee will survey villages for potential reforestation efforts and attempt to raise village awareness of the deforestation problem. The teams will provide commodities and technical advice to village-level forestry projects and will gather data on all efforts to increase firewood production and reduce its consumption. The third component will be to develop demonstration plots for research on methods to reduce costs and increase effectiveness of rural reforestation. Approximately 600 trees per ha will be planted, and data on production costs, wood quality, firewood consumption and efficiency, and marketing will be collected and analyzed. In order to gather a wide range of data, the five participating villages will change each year, bringing the total number of villages benefiting from the project to about 40. Amendment of 8/88 extends project 3 years, to 9/91, and adds two components: (1) a CARE agroforestry program in Djenne cercle -- the program will be part of the GOM"s anti-desertification campaign test phase; and (2) a land tenure activity, implemented by the University of Wisconsin"s Land Tenure Center (LTC). The latter, which addresses recommendations made in project evaluations, will assess the effect of the Mali forest code and other tenure rules on adoption of the project"s forestry management and agroforestry techniques, and establish a system for monitoring the socioeconomic impact of the project as a whole. (PD-BBD-474) Amendment of 3/31/92 extends the PACD to 5/93 and adds land tenure/forestry policy dialogue activities. The process, which will build on the LTC"s research, will involve consultative village meetings and public hearings leading to revisions in the laws on forestry, hunting, fishing, land clearing, and the use of improved woodstoves. This process represents a significant departure from the GOM"s past approach towards developing legislation. The RFS will also continue, in conjunction with USAID, preliminary work on the upcoming Mali Environmental Support Project (6880267). Project support for CARE"s activities in Djenne will end in 6/92; follow-on activities will probably be funded under the PVO Co-Financing project (6880247). (PD-ABI-389)