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Exciting news!
Following a meeting yesterday in Chelsea, London, African NGO, Fight Against Desert Encroachment (FADE) has agreed to become a partner to Operation OASIS.An exploratory meeting between members of the OASIS network and Dr Newton Jibunoh and his FADE team revealed close synergies between our two projects: FADE's goal is to establish a wall of trees along the fringes of the desert in successive rows; Operation OASIS seeks to establish tree belts on desert coasts to allow airborne moisture to cross onto the land, carrying rain clouds into arid interiors.
- OASIS and FADE teams join up to fight the desert
Shared goals
Terms will be agreed for a way forward which will emphasise:
A shared commitment to promoting the reversal of desertification as a way to counteract climate changeA recognition that the most devastating social ills stem from desertification - displacement, illiteracy, poverty, tribal conflicts, food shortage and environmental degradation.
Appeals for funding pilot demonstrations of Operation OASIS to maximise desert reclamation by re-establishing forests and crops in a moist rather than dry environment.
Dr Newton Jibunoh, Desert Warrior and founder of FADE, Africa
The Doctor says, “Desertification is the primary cause of Climate Change!”
Dr Newton C. Jibunoh is a world-renowned environmentalist popularly known as “The Desert Warrior”. He founded FADE Africa to plant millions of trees with a group of volunteers to reclaim and resettle lands taken by the desert, in the northern parts of Nigeria bordering the Sahara desert, starting with kano, Borno and Yobe states. He resettles the reclaimed lands with people by establishing schools and training programs for the teachers, setting up cottage industries, clean water, electricity, etc, and thereby curbing migration.Operation OASIS is also a voluntary project, founded by engineer and inventor Andrew K Fletcher, who attended the meeting along with OASIS team member Craig Embleton of the Green Frontier. The OASIS solution proposes the reforestation of desert coasts to allow airborne moisture to cross onto the land, carrying rain clouds into arid interior. Excess wastewater will be salvaged from sewage processing and used to irrigate coastal tree belts. The aim is the reversal of desertification and establishment of agroforestry and eco-affluent societies.
A voice from the desert
The project is sponsored by the voluntary action of the FREdome Visionary Trust. Founder of the Hertofordshire based grass roots community group Greg Peachey said:FREdome is all about finding a shared way forward. Now we need to communicate the relevance of this project to non-desert nations. We need to unlock international co-funding to finance practical action.The Operation OASIS network is uniting scientists, community organisers, local authorities, development agencies and communications professionals in staging a bid for funding from the EU Life + Communications Programme. Should it be successful, the network would have the resource to communicate our ideas worldwide and find partners to work on a demonstration of the system.
In Dr Newton we are delighted to find a powerful advocate for our message. In his lifetime, he has witnessed the Sahara desert's insatiable advance that constantly devours farms and villages, forcing people to abandon their homelands and migrate to already overpopulated cities.
Links
FADE Africa is an international non-governmental organisation (ngo) accredited to the United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development. Find out more at http://www.fadeafrica.org/Find out more at the Operation OASIS website . http://www.operationoasis.com/
Help us keep going! Back our bid for £5000 from the Co-op.
This money would keep our OASIS network going until we can get proper funding - we are all volunteers, currently we receive no funding from any source.
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