Refugees in Cameroon Have Turned a Treeless Desert Camp Into a Thriving Forest:
What once was brown now has turned green, thanks to a special collaboration between the Dutch Lottery, the UN, and a group of humanitarian Lutherans. In 2014, Minawao began hosting at least 60,000 refugees in Cameroon who fled violence linked to the Boko Haram insurgency in neighboring Nigeria. Once they arrived to the arid region, use of firewood for heat during the night and cooking was speeding up the desertification of the area. But, in a few years, the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) were able to empower the refugees to transform the region into a thriving young forest. Now, four years later, 360,000 seedlings have been grown in the nursery on the outskirts of the camp—and planted throughout 294 acres (119 hectares). And, they are recording 90% survival rates. Fruit trees, acacias, cashews, or moringas will provide fruit, medicine and much more. A five-year planting and harvest cycle ensures material for firewood, as well as vines for the construction of roofs. After three years, some trees are big enough to be pruned for firewood.