Landlocked Burkina Faso has launched a ten-year plan to combat desertification and land erosion through district-focused reafforestation programmes that would also help local people generate income from the trees.
Some 350 districts will be covered in the programme which would lead to the development of 17,500 hectares of forest in the dry West Africa country. Each district is expected to plant trees on spaces ranging from 25 and 50 hectares.
The programme aims to replace the "ambitious 8,000 villages - 8,000 forests" programme launched in 1994, but which failed to bear fruits.