Oumy is one of 2000 people in the Casamance region of Senegal that we have helped to establish or strengthen a green job. Green jobs are livelihoods that are sustainable and do not contribute to deforestation or degradation of natural resources.
Deforestation in Senegal is escalating at a time when climate change scenarios need forest conservation more than ever. Senegal has lost more than one million trees since 2010 mainly due to illegal logging and the timber trade, which comes mostly through The Gambia and onto China, and accounts for a loss of an estimated 40,000 hectares of forest each year in Casamance.
There are other factors causing such devastating deforestation in the area: overgrazing and periodic droughts (which are increasing with climate change), have caused soil degradation and desertification. Ongoing conflict and the lack of stability in the region, poverty, unsustainable practices, lack of forest governance, economic pressure and in particular, a lack of alternative livelihoods are also factors.
By supporting the local population to find alternative, viable jobs and sensitising them on the importance of healthy forests, people’s livelihoods become dependent on healthy, abundant forests rather than contributing to their degradation.
With support from the European Commission, our GoEco initiative supports individuals or small businesses set up or strengthen a green business, through seed funding, technical support, equipment and business development skills.
Oumy comes from a small village in the department of Bignona and now supports her family by selling snacks made from African locust bean (known locally as Néré). These beans are picked from trees and are perennial, so as long as the forest is in good health, she will have a constant supply. Néré is also highly nutritious.
Oumy told us ‘thanks to this new job, and thanks to our efforts to protect the forest, I am able to find Néré in enough quantities to maintain my business and support my family’.