..."Nine years ago, the land all around my plot was a yellowish colour. There were only one or two lonely trees," Claudina Loaiza, who has been part of the projects since its onset, told IPS. The project extends over 56 rural villages, townships and Pijao reservations, which make up six municipalities, and has its central office in Natagaima, 225 kilometres from Bogotá. The area known as the Pijao region is home to this native group, who used to be spread out in different parts of the country but whose numbers have dwindled. The population is not purely indigenous, though, as there are also many white and mestizo (mixed-race) people. In fact, only a portion of the rural women in the project are Amerindian. The territory borders with the Tatacoa, a desert that is encroaching on the region, having already swallowed up a once huge tropical forest. It is this forest ecosystem that Manos de Mujer is working hard to regenerate through a number of actions, with the aim of pushing back the advancing desertification. "When I left the father of my children, because of his drinking and cheating, I began planting my own fruit and vegetable garden in my yard; this was something I really wanted," Loaiza said, her eyes shining as she introduced her daughter and niece, who work the land with her.
I'm convinced that much of N Africa and australia could be saived if it weren't for idiotic land management practices. Burning for cultivation makes sense in a very wet climate, but it simply ruins marginal land. keep to the Fen Causeway
