How Haidar el Ali became one of Africa鈥檚 best-known environmentalists
Haidar el Ali started out in his family鈥檚 furniture business but then dedicated his life to protecting the oceans and other habitats.
Haidar el Ali鈥檚 projects include reforestation efforts, especially the replanting of mangroves.
Amanda Fortier
Dakar and Ziguinchor, Senegal
At 25 years old, Haidar el Ali had a vision that changed his life.
Like most Lebanese in Senegal, Mr. Ali came from an entrepreneurial family. It had several furniture stores and workshops spread across Dakar鈥檚 densely packed M茅dina neighborhood. Every morning at 7 o鈥檆lock, Ali would join his father for a quick cup of coffee and chat before they started work. But one morning, while crossing the street, Ali had a moment he can only describe as 鈥渕ystical.鈥�
鈥淪uddenly I saw myself sitting in my dad鈥檚 place waiting for my own son. My entire life as a businessman flashed before my eyes,鈥� he explains. 鈥淏y the time I reached my dad, I told him I needed to change my life. The next day I quit. Everyone was asking what happened to me, but honestly, I didn鈥檛 know.鈥�
It wasn鈥檛 until a couple of years later that Ali understood. He had always been drawn to nature. It wasn鈥檛 unheard-of for him to spend weeks on end in the forest, away from the consumerism attending urban life back in Dakar. So Ali made a decision. He turned his passion for the environment into a vocation for life.
To some, his next steps might not seem to make sense: He got trained as a professional scuba diving instructor in France, and shortly thereafter he opened a diving company in Dakar. But as Ali describes it, the move makes perfect sense.
鈥淲hat I really wanted to do was speak out against how we were destroying our ocean,鈥� he says. 鈥淔ishermen were, at this time, still using explosives to catch their food, and I started to film what I was seeing underwater 鈥� how the natural ecosystems were being destroyed and degraded by human activity. I took these images to villages and then to the media, which ended up getting a lot of attention. This ultimately gave me the courage to follow my dreams.鈥�
Ali鈥檚 parents were immigrants from Lebanon who 鈥済ot stuck鈥� in this small West African country en route to the United States in the 1930s, and it took them some time to understand why their son would abandon a life of security and comfort. But Ali says he was simply being true to himself.
And he has become one of Africa鈥檚 best-known environmentalists, holding several notable positions. He has been indispensable to the work of Oceanium, an environmental nongovernmental organization based in Dakar that he joined in 1985. Almost three decades later, from 2012 to 2014, Ali served in Senegal鈥檚 government, as minister of environment and then as minister of fisheries. He also heads the country鈥檚 Green Party (FEDES).
Ali is passionate when talking about the planet, raising the alarm about its future.
鈥淥ur environment is being attacked. And it鈥檚 so easy to kill, because trees don鈥檛 cry and branches don鈥檛 fall on traffickers,鈥� says Ali, who is now in his 60s. 鈥淯nfortunately for us, we are headed towards a place of no return. Time is not on our side.鈥�
Of course, he has not sat idly by. In addition to trying to protect the underwater world, he has also taken up land management and reforestation projects, which he has done with Oceanium. Ali served as the organization鈥檚 president for several years, and he is now an honorary member.
The challenges for forests
Senegal鈥檚 forests have faced multiple challenges. Severe droughts hit the country in the 1970s and 鈥�80s, and the rise in urbanization cleared thousands of acres of trees. Mangroves 鈥� one of the richest ecosystems in the world 鈥� have been especially affected.
Approximately 133,000 acres of mangroves disappeared in Senegal between 1980 and 2005, according to a study by the United Nations鈥� Food and Agriculture Organization. The study estimates that as of 2005, about 284,000 acres were left, mostly in the country鈥檚 lush and tropical southern Casamance region. These tidal shrublike trees help deter land erosion; provide homes to numerous fish, mollusks, and crabs; and have carbon-sequestering capabilities greater than those of rainforests.
To help fight against mangrove degradation, Ali, through Oceanium, organized massive replanting efforts with hundreds of villages in Casamance, where he is now based. This region is the greenest part of Senegal and was once referred to as the country鈥檚 breadbasket, but it鈥檚 been far from immune from environmental problems.
Between 2006 and 2012, countless villagers helped replant about 35,000 acres in Casamance, and another 2,500 or so acres were replanted elsewhere in Senegal. It鈥檚 one of the largest mangrove replanting efforts in the world.
Ali has worked with coordinators spread across the country who help organize seed distribution among residents.
鈥淏efore Haidar came, we didn鈥檛 have nearly the number of fish or birds that we do now,鈥� says Aliou Badiane, a planting coordinator with Ali since 2008 who鈥檚 based in a Casamance village with no running water or electricity. 鈥淭he hardest part [for us] is collecting seeds, but now we have a planting system in place that鈥檚 saving us.鈥�
Denouncing loggers
Ali and his network have also devoted attention to a forest restoration project to protect rosewood trees. They鈥檙e denouncing the loggers who are illegally transporting these trunks into neighboring Gambia, where they鈥檙e shipped to China. As a result of the scrutiny, tree-cutters are not able to cut as much wood, which has driven up the cost of it. A year ago, a 6-1/2-foot trunk sold for 10,000 CFA francs ($17). Today, the same size runs 10 times that price.
鈥淭he increase in the selling price proves we are making their work harder,鈥� says Ali, who says forest rangers alert the network two or three times a day about any environmental threats they witness. 鈥淛ust today, for example, I got an alert of some 5,000 tree trunks found. I鈥檒l first send some other people over to look; then I will go back myself. If this is verified, I鈥檒l call the press to denounce it.鈥�
According to Ali, politicians might say they鈥檙e against illegal logging, but on the ground nothing ever changes. 鈥淭he government is quick to say they encourage me [in my work], but it ends there,鈥� he says. 鈥淚n my mind it鈥檚 never a question of means. It鈥檚 one of human determination and will.鈥�
鈥淗aidar is a man of his word,鈥� attests Jean-Michel Kornprobst, professor emeritus of science at the University of Nantes in France, who established Oceanium in 1984, a year before Ali joined. 鈥淗e has never used his environmental efforts 鈥� for which he is so strongly physically and intellectually-linked 鈥� for his own personal gain.... [He] is fundamentally honest and is genuinely fighting for future generations...,鈥� says Professor Kornprobst, who commented via email.
Going the extra mile
Ali鈥檚 tree planting is fueled today as much by personal conviction as by the desire to ensure that the trees, butterflies, and fish are around for 鈥渉is greatest successes鈥� 鈥� his two youngest children, ages 1 and 3. And not only does Ali practice what he preaches, but he also goes the extra mile to compel others to follow suit.
鈥淚鈥檓 someone who can鈥檛 tell people to plant trees if I鈥檓 not doing it myself,鈥� he says. 鈥淚n my tree nursery [just outside Casamance鈥檚 capital city, Ziguinchor], I planted some 20,000 trees of all different types 鈥� from mahogany and rosewood to orange, grapefruit, avocado, and palmyra palms. And when I travel from Dakar to Ziguinchor [about 280 miles], I take the car just so that I can personally give out seeds in every village I go through. It鈥檚 a fastidious job, but it works.鈥�
According to Ali, Senegal can be a role model for the rest of the region, and even the world, on how people can fight to preserve a natural way of life.
鈥淚鈥檓 an optimist because I believe in humanity and the force of humans to react,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 believe in a nonviolent citizen revolution that is aware of our power to change things and is aware of our potential as the solution. And I see this movement taking hold a bit all over the world. People are starting to become more aware that having a love for all that is living is primordial for the survival of humanity.鈥�
How to take action
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