Photo: ARO Baobab Project
Women are playing key roles in restoring the habitat of baobab trees in Madagascar, which has six of the world’s eight baobab species but whose forests are threatened by slash-and-burn agriculture and climate change. While women were the main people collecting and selling baobab fruit to feed their children, they had no voice before 2020, when tropical ecologist Seheno Andriantsaralaza and a researcher from Berkeley University began the ARO Baobab Project. In 2021, with communities, two nurseries were set up to grow seedlings - about 40% baobab and 60% indigenous trees. In February 2023, they transplanted more than 50,000 baobab and other seedlings, which had a survival rate of 70%. EOS Data Analytics monitored their health, using satellite footage, algorithms and remote sensing.
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