Yacouba Sawadogo

Yacouba Sawadogo was born in 1946 in the village of Gourga in northern Burkina Faso. He died on 3 December 2023, aged 77, in hospital in Ouahigouya after a long illness, according to The New York Times (as republished by the Boston Globe) and Right Livelihood.

After drought and famine in the early 1980s, he adapted zaï, a traditional practice of digging small pits to catch rainwater. According to UNEP, he made the pits wider and deeper, added organic matter and stones to help hold water, and used termites to loosen hard ground; The New York Times reported that he dug the pits during the dry season, earlier than was customary. On land that had been barren he grew a forest of more than 60 species of trees and shrubs; its size is reported variously as about 27, 30 and 40 hectares.

Desertification, land degradation and drought in the Sahel

According to Right Livelihood, which honoured him in 2018, his methods had by 2016 helped restore productive capacity on tens of thousands of hectares in Burkina Faso's Yatenga and Gourcy provinces, and influenced policy and other farmers. UNEP named him a Champion of the Earth in 2020 in the Inspiration and Action category. His story was told in the 2010 documentary The Man Who Stopped the Desert.

His forest at Gourga and the improved zaï technique remain an example of low-cost, farmer-led land restoration in drylands. Right Livelihood's executive director described him as 'a visionary farmer and a beacon of hope'.

1. 1946Born in Gourga, northern Burkina Faso.
2. 1980sBegins adapting the zaï technique after drought and famine.
3. 2010Featured in the documentary The Man Who Stopped the Desert.
4. 2018Receives the Right Livelihood Award.
5. 2020Named a UNEP Champion of the Earth (Inspiration and Action).
6. 2023Dies in Ouahigouya on 3 December, aged 77.