When and why Wise TeBe was born

Monday, November 12, 2007

After the last forest reform in 1995, the Ivory Coast government gave wood enterprises large concessions called perimeters. As part of perimeter administration, firms have been encouraged to cooperate with the authority in order to sensitize the population to the issues of reforestation and preservation of the forest patrimony. Tropical Bois in particular has been very active in raising awareness about reforestation. In 1998, after an exhibition of Ivory Coast comic strips, Tropical Bois decided to use comic strips as a way to sensitize the rural population to the importance of forest preservation. After a contest designed to select a suitable character, the « wise TB », an ecology-savvy tree, was chosen.
In 1999, the first story about the wise TB was published. The work was entitled « S.O.S FORET » (“Forest SOS”) and was aimed at explaining how the loss of forested areas can result in deep imbalances in the ecosystem. The solution to this problem should be reforestation as well as putting an end to illegal tree cutting.
The socio-political crisis that affected the Ivory Coast from 1999 to 2005 unfortunately halted new publications. The second adventure of the wise TB, entitled « STOP AUX FEUX DE BROUSSE » (“Stop to bush fires”) was not published until 2005. In this episode, created in collaboration with the firefighters of Abidjan, the dangers of forest fires were illustrated and ways to deal with their recurrence were presented.
The third episode, « REGENERATION » (“Regeneration”), was published in 2007 following some research done by Tropical Bois in partnership with Sodefor (the state company managing all forests not directly given in concession), and focused on biodiversity. In fact, reforestation alone is not sufficient to solve the problem of continuous forest disappearance. The third episode in the adventures of the wise TB focuses on the knowledge that the forest can be enriched through natural regeneration processes. Reforestation should then occur from April to September and natural regeneration methods should be practiced all year long. This third instalment was showcased during the international comic fair « Cocoa Boule » in Abidjan.
Strong of its success in the Ivory Coast, a new story was recently published in October 2007. It is entitled « LA PLUS BELLE HISTOIRE » (“The most beautiful story”) and is divided into three episodes that narrate the story of human beings and trees through the centuries.