Burkina Faso — Project 10%
Contributing 10% to the Burkinabè section of the Great Green Wall: reforestation, fighting desertification and village development.
"PROJECT 10%"
"PROJECT 10%" is a brick in the trans-African Great Green Wall. It stems from local initiatives, is supported by the Mire-Mont Foundation and is run by a committee chaired by Mr Zongo, the school director, with experts delegated by the Ministry of the Environment.
A target for 2040
The goal: by 2040, to contribute 10% of Burkina Faso’s national section of the Great Green Wall. This ambitious target represents:
- a total of 6,000,000 trees;
- an estimated CO₂ absorption of 1 megatonne (each tree is a carbon sink);
- a reforestation area of 40,000 ha across about 160 villages (≈ 250 ha each);
- an estimated total cost of €20 million over 20 years.
Razoutenga: from pilot to the "women’s forest"
In 2022, a pilot started in the village of Razoutenga: 20 one-hectare plots, fenced with acacia nilotica hedges and planted with 200 seedlings. The 2023 programme covered 65,000 tall trees and 35,000 hedge shrubs. In 2024, nursery seedlings were transplanted to a protected 3.5 ha area — the "women’s forest" — and a technical officer who graduated from the school was hired for a continuous professional presence.
In the 100 ha forest, 3,000 seedlings were transplanted in 2025 and 9,000 more in 2026. The pilot project will be completed in 2027 with the final transplanting of 3,000 to 5,000 seedlings.
The Mire-Mont Foundation’s support
The Foundation supported the project from the outset, both in management and in funding:
- infrastructure: an SUV, a motorcycle, bicycles and nursery tools;
- two wells, a water tower and a water distribution system;
- the purchase of 6 donkeys with a trailer and a 400 L tank to bring water to reforestation areas;
- the construction of a 2 ha fenced grazing area with drinking troughs;
- the construction of an NWFP processing centre (non-wood forest products), together with all the tools required for that processing;
- paying for the work of villagers (nursery, runoff-collection basins, compost, ZAI, stone bunds) and of the school’s students during missions.
A momentum that goes beyond reforestation
The momentum of the Razoutenga pilot project is spreading beyond reforestation. A pre-school centre has been built in Razoutenga by the Katia van Weel Foundation, and the Mire-Mont Foundation has funded an NWFP processing centre to process néré, shea butter, moringa, honey and other forest products.
The inauguration of these two new facilities in May 2026 was the occasion for a village celebration, as this video shows.