Ecorestoration work in Timbaktu began as an experiment. Today it is the inspiration and the starting point for all the ecorestoration work that the Collective is doing in the surrounding villages. It is such a simple an easy process that one wonders why this is not carried out by all others working in this field.

The budding forests around Timbaktu were not what they are today. There were barely any trees in Timbaktu or hills that surround it. The hills surrounding Timbaktu is notified as a Reserve Forest. Yet in July 1991, when the first herbarium was prepared there were only 23 species of trees, grass, bushes and grasses. The spread was very sparse and plants quite unhealthy like the soil. By 1996/97 when the next herbarium was prepared, 320 species had established themselves - a tribute to Nature's capability to regenerate herself. Today some parts have become so dense that one can barely walk through. The trees have grown to 15 to 20 ft high and there is a profusion of grasses during the monsoon season. A new herbarium will be prepared in 2004 to see what more has happened. This ongoing study is probably one of its kind anywhere in the world. No study of the regeneration of species in dry deciduous forests in rain shadow regions of the tropics seems to have been recorded anywhere.

The soil in Timbaktu and around is highly degraded, calcified and compacted, as a result of deforestation over the years. This combined with very low rainfall makes it a challenge and an opportunity to demonstrate, to the people in the area, what concerted conservation efforts can produce in terms of natural regeneration with minimal interference.

The objectives of the ecorestoration work in Timbaktu and its surroundings are:

• to make a positive intervention in the process of regeneration and healing of the land within Timbaktu and the Common lands surrounding it;
• to bring soil erosion under control;
• to regenerate a forest which produces minor forest produce which can be raw material for the community living in Timbaktu and the villages nearby;
• to increase the water recharge in the area;
• to create a habitat that attracts a wide variety of animals that had left the area, e.g. birds, snakes, butterflies, etc.;
• to reestablish different plants and trees;
• to set an example for other ecorestoration projects;
• to learn and acquire knowledge in the field of ecorestoration, which can be used to support similar project