Transform lives with sand dams and trees

Excellent Development is an Isle of Man and UK based charity that is supporting rural communities in drylands to transform their own lives with sand dams and climate-smart agriculture, thus securing lifelong access to clean water and food. This current appeal is to enable such communities to start 10 new tree nurseries, which would make a huge difference to their farms and livelihoods.<b>THE NEED</b>Drylands, which comprise over 40% of the world’s land surface (and home to 2.3 billion people), are tough places to live. Rainfall is erratic and water from heavy downpours often runs off the bone dry land, disappearing into the oceans, taking valuable fertile soil with it. To make things worse, climate change is increasing desertification.With 74% of the world's poor living in these dryland areas, Excellent Development has been providing communities with the tools and training they need to build sand dams, establish flourishing farmland, and break free from poverty. For good. <b>WHAT IS A SAND DAM?</b>A sand dam is a reinforced concrete wall built across a seasonal riverbed. During the rainy seasons, they capture up to 40 million litres of water which is stored safely within the sand behind the dam wall, protected from evaporation and contamination. This is enough water to support over 1,000 people with a local water source for life. “We would go for a week without bathing or washing clothes and sometimes, food would be available but there was no water to cook because the water was insufficient,” says Alphonce Kilonz, a farmer in southeast Kenya from the Mapatano ma aka Malunda community.In drylands, rainfall occurs in just one or two short, intense seasons. Because the land is so dry, when rain does fall, up to 85% is simply lost as run-off. Capturing this water where it falls is essential for farmers like Alphonce if they want to improve their environments and livelihoods. And sand dams are by far the most cost-effective way of doing this.<b>HOW TREE NURSERIES CAN CHANGE EVERYTHING</b><b></b><b></b>Alongside building sand dams, Excellent works with on-ground partners to support communities with climate-smart agriculture; this includes terracing, growing drought-resistant crops and establishing tree nurseries. Trees are essential for life. They protect soil; reducing erosion and enabling the land to absorb more rainwater. In addition, they are also an essential source of food, fuel, fodder, compost, and can be used as building materials and even medicines. Alphonce says, “I have established my own tree nursery and I now have a different variety of trees. I have now grown 100 mango trees using water from the sand dam. I have also planted orange trees. I then have trees like grevillea and jacaranda which I can use for timber and to build shade over our homes.  I now want to establish a forest where I can plant trees that supply me with fuel.”Will you help farmers like Alphonce and communities like Mapatano ma aka Malunda (pictured) to plant tree nurseries close to home, providing them with food, fuel and fodder, in turn freeing them from a cycle of handouts and poverty?At Excellent, we believe that sustainable environmental development and human well-being go hand in hand: that improved livelihoods don’t have to come at the expense of our environment. In fact, conservation of the environment is the only way people in drylands can overcome poverty in the long run.