How Replanting Jijen’s Dugout Revived Local Biodiversity

Nature Answers: Rural Stories from a Changing Planet · Nov 5, 2026 · 18m

In Jijen, Ghana, a community is using native vegetation to protect a dugout that has transformed access to water and daily life.

In this episode, host Ivy Prosper takes us to Jijen, in Ghana’s Upper West Region, where a constructed dugout provides water for drinking, cooking, farming and gardening. Before its construction, women often travelled long distances and spent hours searching for water.

We hear how community members are planting native trees, grasses and bamboo around the dugout to reduce erosion, protect the water source and restore the surrounding environment. Community members…