12,000 is the total number of bunds that we have dug in the past few weeks in Monduli district of Arusha region together with hundreds of pastoralists and our amazing partners Justdiggit and Erbarcher Foundation. The bunds will help to harvest most of the rainwater in the coming rain season and help to bring back vegetation in the degraded lands.

The Monduli District in Arusha is one of the driest areas in the country. The majority of people living in the region are Maasai: a nomadic community whose main source of income and survival is livestock keeping. Due to drought, they are struggling with insufficient pasture resources. Meanwhile, farmers in the area are also struggling with the productivity of their farms.

The program aims to improve the livelihoods of the local communities as well as restoring nature by regreening the area. The methods used are Rainwater Harvesting (RWH) and Pastoralist Managed Natural Regeneration (PMNR). These methods are fast, low-cost, and sustainable and will allow pastoralists and farmers inhabiting the most degraded landscapes to restore their pasture lands and farm soils. This positively affects water availability, soil health, crop yields, and grass and fodder for livestock. On a larger scale, regreening degraded land has a cooling effect on the (local) climate.