It also became apparent what severe soil erosion looked like up close. Bare peaks, once covered with trees, were now home to thin, short grass barely strong enough to hold the earth in place, and where it was dislodged, huge pieces of hillside had fallen away. The extremities of drought and torrential rains were more than the hillsides could bear. Trees had disappeared over the years, often used to make charcoal for cooking. Their removal made the land fragile and susceptible to erosion. In low-lying areas, goats devoured much of the remaining vegetation. Replacement through strategic planting had not been organized by the government in any systematic way, and it appeared on our visit that there were no such programs in sight. There had been a few smaller scale attempts by outsiders including ourselves at this point and they enjoyed varying degrees of success. There are multiple advantages to strategic planting. First, adding roots, stems or trunks, and leaves at the soil's surface can significantly reduce the disappearance of earth, keeping the terrain intact.
