By Ashley Thorfinnson
Desertification is occurring on 25% of the land area of Earth, degrading 73% of the world's rangelands and causing widespread poverty. By reversing desertification, we could create innumerable positive consequences: mitigating climate change, droughts and floods, and reducing poverty, social breakdown, violence and genocide. Yet most attempts to date have not only been ineffective, but have been band-aid solutions that do not address its real "root" causes. Enter Semi-Finalist Allan Savory and his surprising trimtab approach to reversing desertification that he calls "holistic rangeland management." Nearly the exact opposite of prevailing theories that blame desertification on overgrazing, Savory's solution centers on dramatically increased livestock numbers to reverse desertification. The tremendous success of Savory's counter-intuitive solution is evidenced through his work with Operation Hope at the Africa Center for Holistic Management (ACHM) in Zimbabwe. For hundreds of years the 6,500 acres of the ACHM were barren, dry fields until 1992 when Savory increased the livestock by 400% and managed them through holistic, planned grazing. Over time, the barren fields were transformed into green grass and open water, full of water lilies and fish.

Savory's counter-intuitive theory is based on a simple insight to one of nature's principles: grasses can't graze themselves. Because herbivores co-evolved with perennial grasses, these grasses depend on herbivores to help them with their decay process. Without large herbivores such as Kudu and Cape Buffallo, the grasses decay very slowly through a process of oxidation and physical weathering. Millions of tons of vegetation are left standing, dying upright. This blocks light from reaching the growth buds (which are low enough to keep them out of grazing harm) so that the next year, the entire plant dies. The death of grass leads to bare ground, and desertification increases.

By reintroducing and increasing the number of herbivores, the plants are kept alive - both through the herbivores grazing, and through their tendency to pack tightly into large herds (in order to avoid wildlife predators). Traveling in large herds means the herbivores trample and chip soils in the way that a gardener does to encourage plant growth, while also fertilizing the soil with concentrated levels of nutrient-rich animal wastes. Much like Buckminster Fuller said, "Pollution is nothing but the resources we are not harvesting." This approach aligns itself with nature a comprehensive way - increasing plant growth while regaining livelihoods through additional livestock, and increasing wildlife populations through holistic management.

As an exemplar of true individual initiative, Allan Savory has been devoted to pursuing and developing his revolutionary approach for quite some time, even in the face of rejection from scientific, academic and policy circles. Yet it seems that Savory's successes can no longer be denied. There is now a growing body of practitioners around the world who have been influenced by his lectures, workshops, and published works, and are applying his innovative management principles with great success. Savory is now expanding Operation Hope's reach through the internet and his own ventures. He has recently received a $4.2 M grant from USAID to replicate his work in several other African areas. The vision and persistence of Savory and the success of Operation Hope stand to create a preferred state, which few would have ever imagined possible, through holistic rangeland management.

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Ashley Thorfinnson