Our most well-known regreening technique! Bunds are semi-circular holes that capture rainwater and prevent erosion. By digging bunds, the soil gets the chance to sprout resulting in a return of vegetation and plants in the area. Done on a large enough scale, this regreening of dry and degraded land has a massive impact on water availability, biodiversity, food security, local communities – and even our climate.

Also known as Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR). This is another proven and accessible regreening technique we use. Treecovery is the selecting, pruning and protecting of stumps of cut-down (but alive!) trees, which are widespread on African farming lands. With the right care, these stumps get the chance to grow into real trees again – in a much quicker and more sustainable way than by planting new trees!

We want everyone to know about the potential of nature-based solutions for the quick and sustainable regreening of dry and degraded land. To raise awareness about nature-based regreening and to inspire farmers to dig in   with us, we organise movie roadshows in villages in Tanzania and Kenya. These are educative festivals where we inspire communities through film, music education and dance.

Are a landscape restoration method where we use small parts of communal land for the production of grasses and grass seeds. The grass seed banks are managed and maintained by Maasai women groups in Kenya. Once the grasses are fully grown, the grasses produce grass seeds which are sold by the women on local markets or to other regreening projects. In this way, grass seed banks are not just a green oasis in dry and bare land; they’re also an additional source of income for people!

In every new project area we work in, we invite two well-respected and highly skilled local farmers to become part of the Training of Trainers program run by our partner LEAD Foundation. One man, and one woman. By completing this training they become Champion Farmers: ambassadors of regreening that help inspire and teach their fellow farmers in the community how to get started with regreening!

By becoming a large partner, we can calculate and communicate how many people and villages are benefitting from your donation for a Treecovery project. In this way, you’ll know exactly how much your company has contributed to a more liveable planet!

To restore degraded land with our regreening projects, we either dig bunds or regenerate trees with Treecovery. This all depends on the physical (land use, climate, soil conditions, slope) and social-economic conditions of the area. Regreening is not a one-size-fits-all solution after all! In any case, we’re able to measure exactly how many bunds we dug or trees we have brought back thanks to your donation. 

By digging bunds or bringing back trees we can regreen large areas of dry and degraded land. That’s because increased vegetation means more organic matter, more nutrients and more water in the soil. The root system of the vegetation helps water to enter the ground more easily and go deeper, which boosts tree and plant growth in the entire area!

We capture large amounts of invaluable rainwater in our project areas. By digging the bunds we open up the dried-out top layer of the earth’s soil, slowing down and capturing the rainwater running downhill. Trees and other vegetation also help to improve the micro-climate by providing shade and by releasing moisture into the air. On a large enough scale, this helps to create clouds and increases the chance of rain, especially at the beginning and end of the rainy season! We estimate the amount of water retained based on rainfall and the number of bunds and trees.

While growing, vegetation takes up CO2 from the atmosphere. This decreases the concentration of CO2 and reduces the greenhouse effect. On a large scale, this helps combat global warming! Even though both our bunds and FMNR projects help retain CO2, we only give CO2 sequestration updates for our FMNR projects. 

**Disclaimer. By regreening degraded landscapes and bringing back vegetation, our programs capture huge amounts of CO2. However, Justdiggit does not formally compensate for carbon emissions. To compensate for carbon emissions in a formal way, specific certification of the program and the sequestrated carbon is required. This process can take multiple years and is expensive and we prefer to invest these resources into scaling up our regreening efforts. Instead, we monitor our carbon impact in detail based on a method developed by an independent consultancy called  Face The Future.