• The Senegal man on a mission to plant five million trees
• Growing shade: An epic quest to plant a tree for every home in Senegal
• Senegalese plant circular gardens in Green Wall defence against desert

• In Senegal's capital, Nicaragua is a hot ticket among travel agents as migrants try to reach US
• Satellite data shows hunger looming in Senegal, Mauritania
• Penury amid potential in Senegal's Casamance

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Positive Trends
Short Summaries of Top Stories

The Senegal man on a mission to plant five million trees
28 December 2022 - A man in southern Senegal has set himself the ambitious task of planting five million trees over the next five years. This visionary project came to Adama Dieme when he returned home to the Casamance region in 2020 after a few years working in Europe. The 48-year-old was shocked that in villages that were populated with hundreds of gigantic trees in his youth, only a handful, if any, now remained. (more)

Growing shade: An epic quest to plant a tree for every home in Senegal
10 January 2022 - Tree-planting projects have gained new currency around the world in recent years. Once prized as either ornamentation or commodity, trees are now sought for their environmental and social benefits as well. Environmental activist Modou Fall and his army of volunteers aim to plant one tree for every home in Senegal, using recycled tires as planters to help deter rooting animals. It's a lofty goal, but the resources are abundant. (more)

Senegalese plant circular gardens in Green Wall defence against desert
24 August 2021 - A project aims to create hundreds of circular gardens -- known as 'Tolou Keur' in Senegal's Wolof language -- that organizers hope will boost food security, reduce regional desertification, and engage thousands of community workers. (more)

Senegal architects ditch concrete for earth in revival of old techniques
18 May 2021 - Senegal's traditional dwellings were made of earth, which naturally regulates heat and humidity, and requires little energy to produce. Concrete is inexpensive and used with abandon in Senegal's capital, but it is poorly suited to the West African heat. On summer days ... the buildings become furnaces, cooled only with blasts of air conditioning. Earth naturally regulates heat and humidity, say the founders of Worofila, an architecture firm specializing in bioclimatic design. (more)

Senegal: Diplomats visit a key biodiversity site
26 April 2019 - Diplomats visiting the city of Dakar in Senegal were taken to a wetland reserve to learn about its importance to the area and to nature. Additionally, they learned about vulture conservation. The great Niaye of Pikine, commonly known as the Technopole, is an exceptional urban wetland located in the heart of Dakar. It is one of the five wetlands within the Niayes, an Important Bird Area, with lakes Tanma, Mbaouane, Retba, and Mbeubeusse. (more)

Top Senegalese chef backs ancient grain as next superfood
15 January 2019 - For centuries, women in West Africa's cereal belt have relied on fonio, a small, nutty grain, to feed their families. Now, Adja Aissata Aya Ndiaye, a farmer in Kedougou in southeastern Senegal, thinks fonio could become a staple across the continent, and eventually around the world. Over in New York, Senegalese chef Pierre Thiam has the same aim. He is on a mission to raise fonio's profile at home and abroad, believing it can generate much-needed income for West African farmers hit by shifting weather patterns. (more)

Senegal opens new international airport with economic hopes
7 December 2017 - Senegal's new international airport was opening its runways Thursday [7 December] as the West African country hopes to become a travel hub for the region. The airport, with an estimated cost of $575 million, is five times larger than the old one. It is expected to see 3 million passengers in its first year. A number of cities in West Africa are competing to be the region's air hub including Lome, Togo, which is the base of operations for ASKY Airlines, and Abidjan, Ivory Coast. (more)

The Next Einstein Forum's Global Gathering opens with call to accelerate science-driven development In Africa
8 March 2016 - An unprecedented coalition of African and world leaders have convened at the first-ever Next Einstein Forum Global Gathering, issuing a joint call to action for increased investment and support for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) in Africa. The event marks a historic first step in charting a new course for science-led development in Africa. Held every two years, NEF Global Gatherings showcase Africa's top young scientists and connect them with leaders from Africa and the rest of the world in high-profile, invitation-only forums that touch on the three pillars of science, society, and policy. (more)

Senegal: Dakar women grow herb business from floodwater
6 March 2015 - Though the coastal cities of Senegal are situated on the fierce Atlantic Ocean, it is floods from heavy rains they struggle with, rather than rising tides. A common solution is to pump floodwaters into the ocean. But one innovative project is trying to capture the water instead, for use in gardening during water-short periods of the year. In Pikine, a suburb of Senegal's capital Dakar, the 'Live with Water' project captures floodwater in large sandy basins, around which cash crop gardens of mint and basil provide an income for local residents. (more)

Senegal: Saint-Louis festival takes jazz back to African roots
12 June 2014 - Once a lively French colonial trading port, the sleepy city of Saint-Louis in West Africa's Senegal bursts into life for just a few days a year during the annual summer jazz festival. From dusk, jazz from the open-air concert blends with African rhythms, and drifts off the shores of the tiny island where the festival is held down the normally tranquil banks of the Senegal River. (more)

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Flops
Short Summaries of Top Stories

In Senegal's capital, Nicaragua is a hot ticket among travel agents as migrants try to reach US
2 March 2024 - Gueva Ba tried to reach Europe by boat 11 times from Morocco, failing each attempt. Then, in 2023, the former welder heard about a new route to the United States by flying to Nicaragua and making the rest of the journey illegally by land to Mexico's northern border. ...Ba, 40, was deported from the U.S. with 131 compatriots in September after two months in detention, but thousands of other Senegalese have gained a foothold in America. Many turn to savvy travel agents who know the route -- touted on social media by those who've successfully settled in the U.S. (more)

Satellite data shows hunger looming in Senegal, Mauritania
30 August 2019 - Hundreds of thousands of people in Senegal and Mauritania are at risk of going hungry in the coming year because not enough grass has grown to feed the region's cattle, analysts said on Friday [30 August]. Satellite maps show barren pastures across large swaths of the two West African countries. (more)

Penury amid potential in Senegal's Casamance
2 May 2014 - Reduced harvests in 2013-2014 have driven up food insecurity in Senegal's southern Casamance Region, where a protracted insurgency and underinvestment have stifled agricultural output. Casamance, Senegal's richest agricultural region, has the highest levels of hunger of the 10 regions in the country considered to be at risk in terms of food security. Thirty-seven percent of households in Casamance, home to some 1.8 million people or 14 per cent of Senegal's population of 13 million, are facing food shortages. Ten per cent of households are experiencing severe food insecurity, according to a recent food security assessment. 'Casamance was once Senegal's breadbasket, but the conflict, changing climate and economic degradation have brought this difficult situation,' said Mamadou Konte, regional rural development director for Casamance. 'If people have consistent revenue, development can overcome the conflict. We hope to be able to quickly develop agriculture and regain the previous levels of harvests.' All three Casamance districts (Kolda, Sedhiou, and Ziguinchor) are facing food shortages, aid groups say. Cereal production in Senegal dropped by 12 per cent last season compared to the 2012-2013 season, according to the food security assessment. (more)

Gunmen kidnap 12 mine clearance workers in southern Senegal
5 May 2013 - Gunmen suspected of belonging to a Senegalese separatist group abducted 12 employees of a South African mine clearance company in the West African nation's restive Casamance region, military and civilian officials said on Sunday. The workers, all Senegalese, were on their way to inspect a mine field that had been cleared of explosives when they were kidnapped on Friday by men believed to be members of the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance (MFDC). A civilian official in Ziguinchor said the team were employed by the South African de-mining firm Mechem. The 31-year-old separatist rebellion in Casamance is one of Africa's longest-running insurgencies. Though largely dormant, the conflict remains an unhealed blemish on Senegal's otherwise enviable reputation as the only country in mainland West Africa that has not suffered a coup or a civil war since independence. Various agencies have been working for several years to clear Casamance of landmines. (more)

Senegal police fire tear gas at polling station
25 March 2012 - Police fired tear gas at crowds gathering Sunday outside the polling station in Senegal's capital where President Abdoulaye Wade is expected to vote. Senegalese voters are deciding Sunday whether to give their 85-year-old president another term in office, or instead back his one-time protege in a runoff election that could oust the incumbent of 12 years. President Wade's decision to seek a third term has infuriated many of his countrymen. Wade fell short of the 50 per cent needed to avoid a runoff, receiving only 34.82 per cent. Violent protests leading up to the election have left at least six people dead, and analysts have warned of further unrest if Wade wins. (more)

Casamance conflict is unhealed sore for Senegal
25 February 2012 - When he took office in 2000, Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade promised to end decades of separatist rebellion in his country's southern Casamance region. But as Sunday's election nears, an often dormant insurrection has ticked up, with rebels raiding isolated army outposts, killing, and capturing soldiers. Lines between independence struggle and criminality appear blurred amid smuggling, racketeering, and multiplying rebel factions. Yet the on-off low-intensity rebellion, now entering its fourth decade, has hardly registered in campaigning, even though it will prevent voting in 51 villages. The fighting has destroyed hundreds of villages and rendered thousands of hectares of arable land, suitable for producing rice, vegetables, and fruit unusable due to unexploded ammunition and landmines. Foreign travel warnings have hamstrung a potentially lucrative tourism industry in the region. (more)

Senegal police clash with rioters as vote looms
19 February 2012 - Senegal security forces fired teargas and rubber bullets at hundreds of rock-throwing protesters in the capital on Sunday in the fifth straight day of demonstrations against President Abdoulaye Wade's candidacy in a 26 February election. The clashes come amid mounting pressure on Wade from opposition rivals and international partners to withdraw his bid for a third term in office. Opposition leaders and civil society group M-23 have vowed to make the country ungovernable if Wade does not step down, arguing the octogenarian's candidacy violates constitutional term limits. (more)

Senegal's Koranic 'scholars' face beatings - report
15 April 2010 - Schoolchildren enrolled the nation's traditional Koranic schools, or daaras, are being forced by teachers to panhandle on pain of severe beatings, according to an investigation by global advocacy group Human Rights Watch released on Thursday. The findings are troublesome in a mainly Muslim nation of 12 million where Koranic schools have existed for centuries, placing Senegal on a list of countries with severe forced child begging such as Pakistan, India, and Albania. The majority of Senegal's urban daaras have embraced forced begging, Wells said, with some of the religious leaders -- known as marabouts -- making as much as $100,000 per year on the proceeds while cutting back hours in the classroom. 'This has created a legacy of street children in Senegal,' said an expert. 'Because of the severe abuse they suffer at the hands of the marabout, they run away in huge numbers.' (more)

Senegal: Rising food prices cause hundreds to protest
27 April 2008 - More than 1,000 people, some carrying empty rice sacks, marched through Senegal's capital Dakar on Saturday to protest against rising food prices, the latest such demonstration in impoverished West Africa. Aid experts say soaring global prices for foodstuffs and fuel threaten to push 100 million people worldwide into hunger, and governments in the poorest countries are scrambling to find ways to mitigate the effects. (more)

Senegal: Toxic vegetables for sale
3 March 2008 - In a country whose climate fosters the growth of insects, farmers grow vegetables so heavily laced with pesticides that they are highly hazardous to both growers and consumers. Amadou Diouf, an agricultural engineer, told IRIN the problem is rife across the country. (more)