SCALING UP REGREENING: SIX STEPS TO SUCCESS

The report advocates for the scaling of regreening, specifically farmer-managed natural regeneration (FMNR), as a low-cost solution to food insecurity and climate change in drylands. It details a six-step strategy: identifying successes, building grassroots movements, addressing policy barriers, implementing communication strategies, strengthening value chains, and expanding research. Using examples from Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Senegal, the authors argue that FMNR is more cost-effective and has higher survival rates than conventional tree planting.

• Farmer-managed natural regeneration (FMNR) is a low-cost agroforestry practice where farmers protect and manage trees and shrubs that regenerate naturally from root stock or seeds in the soil, rather than planting new seedlings.
• Regreening provides diverse economic and environmental benefits, including increased soil fertility through organic matter and nitrogen fixation, improved food security, provision of fuelwood and fodder, and carbon sequestration.
• In southern Niger, farmers have regreened 5 million hectares since the mid-1980s, which represents nearly 50 percent of the country's total cultivated area.
• FMNR is significantly more cost-effective than conventional tree planting; in Niger's Maradi and Zinder regions, external investment costs for regreening were estimated at less than $20 per hectare.
• Policy and legal barriers, particularly regarding tree tenure and the requirement for permits to harvest naturally regenerated trees, often hinder the scaling of regreening efforts.
• The report outlines a six-step framework for scaling up regreening: 1) Identify and analyze existing successes, 2) Build a grassroots movement, 3) Address policy and legal issues, 4) Implement a communication strategy, 5) Strengthen agroforestry value chains, and 6) Expand research.
• Regreening helps farmers adapt to climate change by reducing wind speed and lowering soil surface temperatures, which protects crops and microorganisms.
• The scale of regreening is often underestimated by officials; for example, satellite analysis revealed 450,000 hectares of agroforestry parklands on Mali's Seno Plain, whereas development agents had estimated only 18,000 hectares.

APA

REIJ, C., & WINTERBOTTOM, R. (2015). SCALING UP REGREENING: SIX STEPS TO SUCCESS. World Resources Institute. https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/scaling-regreening-six-steps-success.pdf

Chicago

REIJ, CHRIS, and ROBERT WINTERBOTTOM. SCALING UP REGREENING: SIX STEPS TO SUCCESS. World Resources Institute, 2015. https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/scaling-regreening-six-steps-success.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=REIJ |first1=CHRIS |last2=WINTERBOTTOM |first2=ROBERT |title=SCALING UP REGREENING: SIX STEPS TO SUCCESS |publisher=World Resources Institute |date=2015 |url=https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/scaling-regreening-six-steps-success.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{reij2015scaling, author = {REIJ, CHRIS and WINTERBOTTOM, ROBERT}, title = {{SCALING UP REGREENING: SIX STEPS TO SUCCESS}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, year = {2015}, url = {https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/scaling-regreening-six-steps-success.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }