RESTORATION PROJECT
Thiès Forest Restoration
Turning a former quarry into a thriving native forest that anchors jobs, water security, and climate resilience for nearby communities.
PROJECT OVERVIEW
From Quarry to Climate Buffer
In the Thiès region of Senegal, a disused quarry once defined by bare rock and erosion is being transformed into a living forest corridor. The site now anchors water retention, soil regeneration, and dignified green jobs for local youth.
PROJECT BACKGROUND
A Forest Grown from Extraction Scars
The Thiès site began as a heavily quarried landscape, with exposed rock faces, compacted soils, and flash flooding threatening nearby homes and roads. Conventional rehabilitation would have stopped at basic leveling and fencing.
Instead, GGWoA and local partners designed a regenerative forest system: terraces that slow runoff, basins that capture rainfall, and planting schemes that mix fast-growing nurse species with slower, deep-rooted trees.
The result is a living buffer that cools local microclimates, protects infrastructure, and creates hands-on climate careers for youth who now steward the land year-round.
FIELD NOTE
"Where there was once bare rock and dust, children now walk through shade on their way to school."
Local community leader, Thiès Region
RESTORATION APPROACH
How the Forest Holds
Thiès serves as a blueprint for quarry and mining rehabilitation along the Great Green Wall: careful diagnostics, native planting, and community ownership from day one.
Landscape Diagnostics
Soil, water, and biodiversity mapping to design terraces, windbreaks, and infiltration points that work with the existing terrain.
Native Planting Systems
Mixed-species planting with nurse trees, ground cover, and water-harvesting earthworks to stabilize dunes and rebuild topsoil.
Youth & Community Stewardship
Local youth cooperatives coordinate nurseries, planting waves, and long-term care, turning restoration into a source of dignified work.
FIELD GALLERY
A Growing Canopy in Thiès
Scenes from the early planting waves, water-harvesting earthworks, and the everyday life now emerging around the restored forest.
Aerial view of restored forest plots in Thiès, Senegal
Youth planting native trees on terraced quarry slopes
Water harvesting basins capturing rainfall around young trees
Community members walking through a young forest corridor
SCALE THE IMPACT
Bring Quarry Landscapes Back to Life
Thiès is one of many sites where restoration can convert extraction scars into living infrastructure. Join us in designing more forests that protect people, food systems, and futures.