They were gao trees - known as winterthorns in English - with unique, seemingly magical powers.
Over the past three decades, the landscape of southern Niger has been transformed by more than 200m new trees, many of them gaos.
Small-scale farmers have achieved it because of what the trees can do for crop yields and other aspects of farming life.
With less space to expand into as more people are born, hard-up farmers are increasingly realising that the trees can regenerate degraded land.
The ambitious Great Green Wall project to surround the Sahara desert with trees and other plants has changed beyond recognition after debate over whether desertification - the process by which soil loses its fertitlity - is real.
In areas with the best cover, they organised patrols to protect their trees from passing farmers and neighbouring villagers seeking firewood.
Their loyalty to their gaos could make areas around Zinder the most vulnerable to a disease that Reij and Tougiani have recently spotted killing trees near Niamey, the capital.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/16/regreening-niger-how-magical-gaos-transformed-land
Over the past three decades, the landscape of southern Niger has been transformed by more than 200m new trees, many of them gaos.
Small-scale farmers have achieved it because of what the trees can do for crop yields and other aspects of farming life.
With less space to expand into as more people are born, hard-up farmers are increasingly realising that the trees can regenerate degraded land.
The ambitious Great Green Wall project to surround the Sahara desert with trees and other plants has changed beyond recognition after debate over whether desertification - the process by which soil loses its fertitlity - is real.
In areas with the best cover, they organised patrols to protect their trees from passing farmers and neighbouring villagers seeking firewood.
Their loyalty to their gaos could make areas around Zinder the most vulnerable to a disease that Reij and Tougiani have recently spotted killing trees near Niamey, the capital.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/16/regreening-niger-how-magical-gaos-transformed-land
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