The prophet Isaiah once spoke about new things God is doing:
“…a way in the wilderness, springs in the desert, streams in the wasteland, a new season of blossoming and fertility.”
But is this really feasible in dry places like North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia? Luc Gnacadja believes so. “Drylands are a mission field, an opportunity for transformational business models and prosperity,” he says.
Gnacadja is a former Minister of the Environment for Benin. He brings his Christian faith to his campaign against land degradation. For the past seven years, he was the Executive Secretary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification.
Gnacadja believes desertification is the main cause of the surge in migration into Europe. Already this year 110,000 illegal migrants have been caught trying to cross the Mediterranean on boats. Perhaps it’s a responsibility for Europe to address the ‘push-factors’ of forced migration, Gnacadja suggests.
Mission agencies in Niger are already experiencing remarkable results in making man-made barren land to thrive. “When you understand desertification,” Gnacadja says quoting Australian Tony Rinaudo, “you can restore the land.” Rinaudo, also a Christian, developed ‘farmer-managed natural regeneration’ (FMNR). Already, through this method, five million hectares of land in Niger had been regenerated, feeding 2.5 million people with new cereal production.
Source: Joel News International
BIBLE STUDY: Isaiah 44:21-23
PRAISE: God for such success in restoring the land to His purposes. Pray that African spiritual revival
will lead to a blossoming of the parched land.