A leader in the Re-green Revolution: Introducing Justdiggit
Photo by Justdiggit from their Tanzania-based project
Sea Going Green is excited to announce our partnership with Justdiggit!
Justdiggit is an initiative that focuses on turning degraded lands that have become dry and barren into lush green areas throughout Kenya and Tanzania. This not only positively impacts the farmers that are able to work on the land, but also the surrounding biodiversity, local people and of course, our climate.
Justdiggit’s projects are a part of the Regreen Revolution, which targets scaling up nature-based solutions to combat climate change. Together with some of the biggest NGOs in environmental conservation, the goal of the movement is to reach all 350 million subsistence farmers in Africa.
Let’s hear more about these projects, movements and more from Justdiggit’s very own, Merel Rikveld, Manager Business Development & Partnerships.
1. What inspired the creation of Justdiggit? How and when were you founded?
Justdiggit was founded 10 years ago by Dennis Karpes. Dennis met the late Peter Westerveld, who was born and raised in Tanzania. Peter showed him that it is possible to transform completely dried up ecosystems back into green and lush ecosystems again. This was the start of Justdiggit. Now, 10 years later, the decade on ecosystem restoration is about to start and Justdiggit is convinced that we can make a huge impact.
2. Tell us more about your approach and technique. How do your projects transform land that has been depleted into green areas?
Justdiggit focuses on simple, highly scalable and low-cost restoration techniques. One of them is Rainwater Harvesting and the other one is Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR): bringing forgotten tree stumps back to live with a simple pruning technique. By reviving trees on farmland and combining trees and crops on the land, rainwater is captured and soil fertility increases resulting in better yields, which leads to more income for farmers and a greener land and higher carbon intake.
Photo by Justdiggit from their Kenya-based Project
3. How does the vegetation that has been restored cool the area around it? Can a noticeable difference be detected immediately in terms of temperature?
Plants function as the airconditioning of the earth. Also trees bring shade. There is a noticeable difference in temperature between dry lands and land with vegetation:
Photo by Justdiggit
4. What projects are you currently working on in Kenya and Tanzania and do you plan on expanding to other areas in Africa and beyond?
With this approach we have positively impacted the lives of 1 million people in Tanzania, brought back 4.5 million trees and brought an area of 55,000 hectares (135,907 acres) under regreening over the past 3 years.
In Kenya, we have dug more than 200.000 waterbunds. We are still working in both countries. In Tanzania we are currently working in Dodoma and Singida, in Kenya we started digging again (we had to stop for some months because of COVID-19) in the Enkii area. We do have plans to expand to West Africa in the future.
5. The impact potential for the “greening up and cooling down” movement is huge. Can you tell us more about your past and future campaigns or events which will raise awareness on the power of greening and promote your solution around the world?
We are very lucky to have partners like JCdecaux, HavasLemz, Kinetic and IMA that all support us for free. With the support of these organizations we are able to spread our message in Europe and Africa. We have large billboards in the cities, we work together with international influencers, we have TV and radio commercials and we work with ambassadors like Desmond Tutu, Floortje Dessing, André Kuipers and in Germany with Thomas D.
Photo by Justdiggit
Furthermore, we are constantly developing our strategies to reach and mobilize more farmers. Not only in our own programs, but also in supporting other organisations with this toolset to boost their impact. Our ultimate goal is to reach all 350 million subsistence farmers in Sub Saharan Africa in the coming 10 years. In 2021, the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration starts: the decade of doing!
6. How can a business or individual support one of your projects to lower their environmental footprint?
We offer various ways of partnerships. Some of the possibilities:
Carbon offsetting (Through Nature Based Solutions new vegetation is created and carbon is taken out of the air into the plants, trees and the soil. By doing this, we help companies with their carbon footprint compensation.)
Regreen a dedicated area (The sizes of a specific city, province or other relevant area or landmark is expressed in m2 or hectares and has an impact on 8 SGDs.)
Bring back an x amount of trees
Tailor made impact solutions.
For more information, visit: https://justdiggit.org/business/
Want to support projects like Justdiggit to lower your environmental footprint? Learn more.