July 4 - Collaboration with ANET International Group® established

Work Package 2 of Future Sahel explores ways to increase nursery-to-field transplantation survival rates of a panel of Sahelian tree species. A 5 hectares experimental plot is currently being set up with the support of the Senegalese Water and Forest Ministry in Ranerou (Northern Senegal). Among the parameters to be tested, we will employ Solid Rain®, which are biodegradable granules that absorb up to 300 times their weight in water which then becomes available over time for the young trees.  We have established a collaboration with ANET International Group®, which commercializes Solid Rain®. They have kindly provided us with the granules so that they can be tested in small scale experimental plantations before envisaging its use in large scale reforestation along the Green Wall.

June 30 and July 1 - Future Sahel meets up in Stockholm

The first meeting of Future Sahel partners took place on June 30-July 1, 2016 in Stockholm, Sweden. The focus was on the interactions between WP1 for which the major task is to collect, gather, and organizes spatially explicit social and ecological data and WP4 for which one of the tasks will be to use the resulting data in WP1 for scenario workshops to promote resilient social -ecological systems using ecosystem services as a lens. The meeting was attended by Deborah GOFFNER (Future Sahel coodinator and WP2 leader), Line GORDON (WP4 leader) and Jean-Luc PEIRY (WP1 leader). The meeting was also the occasion for Line and her collaborators Juan ROCHA (postdoctoral researcher), Hanna SINARE (PhD student) and Katja MALMBORG (future PhD student) to present their related work from the Volta Basin.  The exchanges were rich and allowed us to learn from each other experiences with mapping social-ecological systems.

June 22, 2016 -12 month post-doctoral position proposal

We are looking for a post-doctoral scientist to join the Future Sahel research team.  The successful candidate must have experience in GIS database creation and development. The database will be used for both research purposes and natural resource management (in collaboration with Senegalese National Green Wall Agency partners). Working knowledge of French is required.  

More information is available on GEOLAB website.