Seeds of hope: Young volunteers replant Tunisia forests

AROUND 40 young Tunisian volunteers gather on a bare hill in the central region of Siliana. Their weekend mission -- revive a burned forest by planting Aleppo pine shoots.

Hamdi, from the eastern city of Sfax, gets straight to work after travelling 250 kilometres (150 miles) to the marginalised region.

A camping and hiking enthusiast, he found out about the initiative on Facebook. “It’s a chance to have fun and do something good together,” says the student.

He is part of a network of nature lovers who have joined forces with Tunisian authorities for an ambitious venture; plant 12 million trees across the country by the end of this year.

That target equates to one tree per Tunisian citizen. “We can only get there together,” says Baya Khalfallah, one of the heads of the Soli&Green association, which launched the campaign in November.

“To reach our objective, we are counting on all the (community) organizations, our partnership with the government -- and, obviously, on those who are environmentally conscious,” she adds.

Most of the volunteers come from the large coastal cities of Tunis, Sfax and Sousse.

Amin Farhat, a young executive from Tunis who is also an activist for a recycling charity, says they want to safeguard Tunisia’s natural beauty and resources. “We’re doing it for the future,” he says.

- Effective & enthusiastic Soli&Green, founded by a handful of environmental activists in their thirties, organizes planting weekends in winter and helps other organisations that want to do the same.

Since November, it has compiled a list of all the country’s reforestation initiatives and estimates that by mid-January, almost a million trees had been planted.

The state does most of the work. The regional commission for agricultural development (CRDA), a public body, provides volunteers with basic training, thousands of tree shoots and a watering truck.

“When we use labourers, we plant around 1,000 trees a day. But with volunteers, we can plant 4,000, even 5,000 a day. There are a lot of them, they are effective and it’s free,” says Nizar Khlif, a manager at the Siliana branch of the CRDA.

“And there is a participatory approach -- they involve the local population.”

The arrival of the city-dwelling, backpack-carrying volunteers has inspired Siliana residents.

In 2017, 40 hectares (almost 100 acres) of forest went up in smoke. A suspected arsonist said he had hoped the blaze would compel authorities to recruit forest rangers, and that he would be hired.

“It was as if we’d lost a family member,” says 14-yearold Khairi Jaied, from a nearby village.

“I have many good memories of the forest. It’s good to see these people helping so that our region can rebuild