Chipata, Zambia: transforming bare school-ground in a food garden !

SAS Institute , #1company  this year in Great-Place-To-Work  have generously contributed to funding the launch of our project in Chipata, Zambia.

WeForest is introducing  permaculture into the reforestation of the  Zambian  Eastern province , leveraging school communities and the BreezeFM local radio station.

On March 10, Weforest met with Provincial Secretary and all provincial leaders in Education, Forestry, Water department and Agriculture to integrate permaculture best practices into the current land restoration initiatives.

Through Ammado vouchers, the 3150 € SAS contribution  will fund a 17 days training (with 2 trainers)  to establish  our pilot at  the Chiparamba Basic school as well as train 30 farmers and future designers for 2 weeks in April, while the children are on  holidays.

Why start at a school? Schools are under- utilized entry points into communities, the children are the future adults and farmers and will learn to protect trees.

    from newscientist.com

"Scientists have known for some time that forests recycle rain. Up to half the precipitation falling on a typical tropical rainforest evaporates or transpires from trees. This keeps the air above moist. Ocean winds can spread the moisture to create more rain. But now Victor Gorshkov and Anastassia Makarieva of the St Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute in Russia say that forests also create winds that pump moisture across continents.

How can forests create wind? Water vapour from coastal forests and oceans quickly condenses to form droplets and clouds. The Russians point out that the gas takes up less space as it turns to liquid, lowering local air pressure. Because evaporation is stronger over the forest than over the ocean, the pressure is lower over coastal forests, which suck in moist air from the ocean. This generates wind that drives moisture further inland. The process repeats itself as the moisture is recycled in stages, moving towards the continent's heart (see diagram). As a result, giant winds transport moisture thousands of kilometres into the interior of a continent."

read more by clicking on the link http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227024.400-rainforests-may-pump-winds-worldwide.html?full=true&print=true