As early as the 1970’s the word “Sahel”, a word that describes that bleak land between the Sahara desert and the wet forest of tropical Africa, had become synonymous with famine and poverty. Over cinematic reconstruction Yacouba, the hero of the film, narrates his incredible life story. We learn how, as a young man, he fought the accepted wisdom of the traditional land chiefs who opposed his new farming techniques... Through the combination of his vast reforestation project and the adaptation of an ancient agricultural planting technique, his name is now synonymous with reversing the process of desertification. So much so that in November 2009 he was invited to Washington DC to share his story with policy makers on Capitol Hill. Recently screened at the global launch of 2011 “Year of the Forests” at United Nations HQ, this film demonstrates how solutions from one man in a developing country now have the attention of policy makers from all over the world.