Yacouba Sawadogo

Yacouba Sawadogo (1946 – 3 December 2023) was a Burkinabé farmer and agronomist who successfully used a traditional farming technique called zaï to restore soils damaged by desertification and drought. Such techniques are known by the collective terms and .

A 2010 documentary feature film, The Man Who Stopped the Desert, first screened in the UK, portrays his life.

Sawadogo was a native speaker of Mossi. In 2020, he was awarded the Champions of the Earth award.

Sawadogo died on 3 December 2023 at age 77.

Background

The northern portions of Burkina Faso fall in the Sahel Belt, a semi-arid region between the Sahara Desert to the north and tropical savannas further south. Uncultivated, the soil experienced increased erosion and compaction. Such practices also led to an annual one-metre reduction in the water table in the 1980s. He relied on simple approaches traditional to the region: cordons pierreux and zaï holes. When rain falls, it pushes silt across the surface of the field, which then fetches up against the cordons. Slowing down the flow of water gives it more time to soak into the earth. The accumulated silt also provides a comparatively fertile spot for seeds of local plants to sprout. The plants slow the water even further in and their roots break up the compacted soil, thereby making it easier for more water to soak in.

The process was supported by the Dutch scientist Chris Reij (World Resources Institute) and OXFAM UK.

Government conflict and protection Over more than two decades, Sawadogo's work with zaï holes allowed him to create a forested area of , and is called in Mossi, which means Forest of Wisdom. Subsequently, this area was annexed by the nearby city of Ouahigouya under the auspices of a government program to increase city revenues. The following year, he was attempting to raise €100,000 because land was now valued at €100,000 from his increased work to fertilizing the lands. and began erecting the first buildings in the forest in 2019. The authorities reported about an ongoing administrative procedure to protect the land as municipal heritage.

A protective fence for the whole forest was inaugurated on 18 June 2021 in the presence of Burkina Faso's .