FenNet

FenNet is a reusable and mobile fence that enables successful landscape restoration through reforestation in the pastoral regions of western Africa. For the first few years, FenNet protects newly planted and sown sites from goats and sheep. This allows the young trees to grow to full strength, thus enabling the ecosystem to recover on its own. In a second phase, FenNet allows rotational grazing by dividing the site into enclosed zones. This way, the animals contribute to the recovery process and local communities can interact with their environment in a more sustainable manner. FenNet is therefore an important tool in the ongoing fight against desertification. The entire production of the fence was carried out locally and at a low cost. 

The ury on FenNet:

FenNet is a relevant area protection solution that utilises local opportunities to address silting in western Africa. It responds to large-scale challenges related to nature restoration and does this in a smart way and as simply as possible.

What does this award mean to you?

I’m really happy that the innovative nature and high impact of a tool made simply with concrete blocks, rebar and wire fencing has been recognised. FenNet has great potential, whether commercial or otherwise. I hope this award can contribute to a widespread rollout.

How did the idea for this project come about?

Out of sheer necessity. In other words, the necessity of landscape restoration in pastoral areas in the Sahel. Landscape restoration is not the same as agriculture; it requires its own tools and instruments. And that’s what we have done with this mobile and reusable fence. A traditional fence, as we know it from agriculture, is placed in the ground and serves to keep animals inside. Our fence is placed on the ground and serves to keep animals out in the first phase and, in the second phase, divide the site undergoing recovery into zones to allow rotational grazing.

What makes your project so special?

Due to its simplicity, FenNet is easy and cheap to produce on a large scale. But it has a significant impact on the land. Reforestation is much less likely to succeed if the site is not protected from grazers. This success is necessary for our operations. Hommes et Terre is not an NGO but a company. We do not work on the basis of subsidies or grants. We fund our projects by selling carbon credits, which we obtain as our trees and grasses grow and remove carbon from the atmosphere. In other words, our funding is based on real results. Without FenNet, you can’t achieve those results. In other words: FenNet pays for itself. Finally, the project also takes into account locally sensitive issues. Local communities would never make their land - however degraded it may be - available if it was fenced off forever. 

Do you have any further plans for the project?

Yes, definitely. Hommes et Terre is one of the largest executive agencies doing landscape restoration in the Sahel region. To start with, hundreds of kilometres of FenNet will be installed in the projects developed by us. But we are also in talks with other agencies, including FAO, to install FenNet for them.