GardenAfrica Tool Kit

What GardenAfrica Does

Key Focus Areas

Conservation & Communities

Conservation need not exclude communities who depend upon natural resources for food, health and livelihoods. GardenAfrica is engaging communities in the search for appropriate solutions which enable them to utilise their resources sustainably.

Garden Africa also fosters conservation sites to conserve and manage botanical resources, many of which are essential for traditional health care. These resources, upon which some 85% of the population in sub-Saharan Africa depend, are under threat from environmental degradation and over harvesting

The protection of diversity, both biological and cultural, is integral to all GardenAfrica projects. Decline in nutritional intake has been linked to the spread of large-scale commercial agriculture, resulting in the loss of natural habitats which previously provided a diversity of food supplements. The move away from localised, sustainable farming methods to high-input, export-driven monocultures, continues to degrade the environment at an alarming rate, increasing the flow of rural poor to burgeoning urban centres, where they are more exposed to HIV infection. This drain on human resources has placed a huge burden on those who remain in the villages - mainly women and children - severely eroding the oral tradition upon which communities have relied fro generations. Fortunately there are still members of the community who maintain vital knowledge of indigenous plants and food systems. A cornerstone of GardenAfrica's work is the recognition that indigenous knowledge can be used to a greater effect. Our projects protect the diversity of existing plant life and, in consultation with the community, encourage the reintroduction of traditional vegetables and fruits into the local diet and trade.

Many sub-Saharan countries are already facing freshwater scarcity, leading to the spread of disease and poor health. And recent projections show that in the next 20 years this may become an issue for the environmental and development agenda. The most vulnerable women, men and children, who need water for food security, income-generation and domestic use are most affected by this crisis having an impact on health, food and other basic requirements needed for life. GardenAfrica therefore takes a very broad, integrated view of the use of water resources. An appropriate technology option such as rainwater harvesting yields water - and poor women and men can decide how best to use that water to manage and sustain their livelihoods.