Did you know? Between 2000 and 2010, the Comoros experienced the highest rate of deforestation in the world. This initial finding guided Dahari’s approach to natural resource management. Today, as part of its program to combat deforestation, the NGO has established community nurseries where both forest and fruit trees are grown.

The community-based natural resource management program is taking shape on the ground since the beginning of 2014, in partnership with CIRAD and with funding from the European Union. The first nurseries were established in May 2015 in the three pilot villages: Adda, Outsa, and Ouzini. Fruit trees—such as avocado, mandarin, and breadfruit—are being grown there. After a few years, these species will provide additional income for the landowners. The villagers have also decided to plant mkindri, fouantsi and mpapa. These are endemic forest trees that are important to preserve, both for the heritage of the Comoros and for biodiversity. The nurseries are considered "community-based": the trees are propagated, maintained, and monitored by the management committees in each village.

The management committees are composed of village residents, most of whom are farmers. They have received specific training to carry out their role in managing the nurseries. The training sessions were provided by the team from the Ulanga association in Mrémani. The theoretical component focused on the fundamentals of establishing a tree nursery, specifically: the role of trees, the types of containers suited to different plants, the plant growth cycle, the ideal size for wild-sourced seedlings, techniques for collecting such seedlings from the forest, site preparation for the nursery, soil quality, filling and arranging containers, plant maintenance, and watering.

The practical portion of the training began with the collection of wild seedlings, which were uprooted in such a way that the main root remained intact. Then, after lightly trimming the leaves and removing some of the secondary roots, the participants potted the seedlings. In total, six days of training were organized across the three villages, and 3,500 seedlings were potted during this time.

Today, the nurseries contain approximately 4,000 seedlings, the largest of which reach a height of 30 to 50 cm. The maintenance of the nurseries by the communities is a success, and we are preparing to carry out an initial reforestation in December 2015  in the Hamkabu zone for the village of Adda, Magouni for the village of Ouzini, and Ngambo for Outsa.