Environmental Protection & Wood Conservation

Environmental degradation and desertification are among the most serious challenges facing Niger. This unit provides the vocabulary and discussion framework for talking about why the environment is deteriorating, what can be done about it, and how to conserve wood — one of the scarcest resources in the Sahel.

Vocabulary

Zarma	English	French
saajo	the bush / environment	la brousse
almaney	animals	les animaux
ganji ham	wild animals	les animaux sauvages
kogando	desert	le désert
hinayan turi	firewood	le bois de chauffe
zamani fema	improved cookstove	le foyer amélioré
kali turi windi	live fence	la haie vive
turi tilam	to plant trees	planter des arbres
halassi	to protect	protéger
how kosaray	windbreak	le brise-vent
fu kan sinda bundu	woodless construction	la construction sans bois
turi	tree	l’arbre
hendu	wind	le vent
kogando	desert	le désert
labu	land / soil	le sol / la terre
hari	water / rain	l’eau / la pluie

A. Why Is the Land Deteriorating?

Zarma	English
Ifo se labu go ga lalandi?	Why is the land deteriorating?
Boro boobey ga turey gaayan da adda. I ga turey wii hinayan se.	Many people cut trees with machetes. They kill trees for firewood.
Almaney mo ga turey ŋwa. Ganji ham go ga ban.	Animals also eat trees. Wild animals are disappearing.
Hari si naaru ka bo takaa zamana. Kaydea ga kuru.	Rain doesn’t fall as much as before. The rainy season is getting shorter.
Hendu ga labu beero sambu ka koy.	Wind carries away a lot of topsoil.
Borey boobey ka tonton labu boŋ. Fari kulu ga ba labu ka bo.	More and more people on the land. Every field needs more land.

B. Why Should We Fight It?

Zarma	English
Ifo se iri ma katagu da a?	Why should we fight it?
Labu no ga iri ŋwaari no. Labu lalandi, iri ga fukku.	The land feeds us. If the land deteriorates, we suffer.
Iri izey nda iri ize izey ga ba labu mo.	Our children and grandchildren need the land too.
Hala iri man te hay fo, kogando ga kaa.	If we do nothing, the desert will come.

C. What Do People Do with Trees?

Zarma	English
Ifo se borey ga turey gaayan?	Why do people cut trees?
Hinayan se — ŋwa teyan se.	For firewood — for cooking.
Fu sindiyan se — bundu nda zaari.	For house building — beams and poles.
Almaney ŋwaari se — koptey nda dumiizey.	For animal food — leaves and seeds.
Safari se — turi haakiilo ga boriyandi borey.	For medicine — tree remedies heal people.

D. How Can We Fight Desertification?

Zarma	English
Iri ga hin ga te ifo?	What can we do?
Turi tilam — turi taaley kali do nda fari do.	Plant trees — new trees around gardens and fields.
How kosaray sinji — turey batta kan hendu ga kayi.	Build windbreaks — a line of trees that stops the wind.
Kali turi windi — turi kan gonda karji kan ga kali halassi.	Live fences — thorny trees that protect the garden.
Zamani fema te — a ga hinayan kayna zangu.	Make improved cookstoves — they use less firewood.
Fu kan sinda bundu sindin — banco fu kan si ba turi.	Build woodless construction — mud-brick houses that don’t need trees.

E. Improved Cookstoves

Zarma	English
Zamani fema ifo no?	What is an improved cookstove?
A ya zamani kan ga hinayan kayna zangu bisa zamani namu.	It’s a stove that uses less firewood than a traditional stove.
A ga ŋwa te hergu mo.	It also cooks food faster.
Weyborey ga zamani fema ba, zama a ga hinayan kaaray.	Women like improved stoves because they save firewood.
Ni sinda ga koy saajo ka du hinayan wati kulu.	You don’t have to go to the bush for firewood all the time.

F. Windbreaks

Zarma	English
How kosaray ya turey batta kan fari ngiryo.	A windbreak is a line of trees at the edge of a field.
Hendu ga kayi turey do. Labu si zuru ka koy.	The wind stops at the trees. Soil doesn’t blow away.
How kosaray ga fari halassi.	A windbreak protects the field.

G. Woodless Construction

Zarma	English
Fu kan sinda bundu — banco fu.	Woodless construction — mud-brick houses.
Ni si ba turi fu sindiyan se.	You don’t need trees for building.
Banco nda birji margante ga fu kaŋ ka te a gaabi beeri.	Mud mixed with manure sticks and makes it very strong.

H. What Each Person Can Do

Zarma	English
Boro kulu ga hin ga te hay fo.	Every person can do something.
Ni ma turi tilam ni windi ra.	Plant a tree in your compound.
Ni ma zamani fema te.	Make an improved cookstove.
Ni ma turey halassi — ni ma si turey wii baa nda fondo.	Protect trees — don’t kill trees without reason.
Ni ma labu haggoy ni izey se.	Take care of the land for your children.
Boro fo hinne si hin ga labu halassi. Amma iri kulu binde, iri ga hin.	One person alone can’t protect the land. But all of us together, we can.