Welcome to Issue 29 of Sandscript! This edition’s big story is about the 20th annual meeting of the Sahelo‐Saharan Interest Group from May 17 to 20 of this year, which was 100% digital for the first time ever! Indeed, like so many organizations, SCF has had to adapt to pandemic‐ imposed restrictions, including those that make it more difficult for participants to travel. On the bright side, the digital format, being practical and easy to access, allowed more people than usual to attend. Overall, it turned out to be very fruitful, according to the many participants who shared their opinions in a survey distributed after the event. This issue provides an overview of the content and organization of the forum in an article offering you a glimpse of the event and to allow some of you to relive the experience.
After that, Sandscript 29 takes you over to the Ouadi Rimé‐ Ouadi Achim Project in Chad, where major mapping work is underway. This is absolutely essential to developing an effective management plan for the reserve, one of the main objectives of the project.
The issue also presents an article summarizing what SCF and our partners have achieved since late 2019 in reintroducing the addax into the wild, where the species is now practically extinct. Along with the scimitar oryx, the addax is one of the most iconic species in the Sahelo‐ Saharan zone. As such, it has attracted a great deal of attention and much of the conservation efforts from SCF and our partners.
And lastly, we are also publishing a series of photographs from the logbook of John Newby – senior advisor, former director, and co‐founder of the Sahara Conservation Fund. The photos were taken during a 10‐day field trip to Niger’s Termit & Tin Toumma National Natural Reserve, that Newby went on along with a crew of SCF and partner staff members. That was in 2009, back when it was not yet a protected area.
We encourage everyone to read the full text, which can be found on our website. Although a 12‐year‐old piece might seem outdated, the fact that it is previously unpublished, combined with recent news from the Reserve – some of whose land was officially opened to oil drilling in January 2021 – makes this publication timely. Back in the early 2000s, SCF was the most active organization on the ground, working to get the values, natural wealth, and importance of this zone recognized in the context of conservation activities leading to the Reserve’s creation in 2012. Reading or re‐reading these pages today is a helpful reminder of how important it is to keep fighting, one way or another, to protect the area and its unique nature, culture and history.
