Every year, the NXplorers programme runs awards programmes across the globe, celebrating the work of students and showcasing their impactful projects to their peers, their teachers and mentors as well as the wider community.

This year in Oman, the Awasir Team explored relationship between a banana, their town’s cultural and economic heritage and its surrounding ecosystems.

The challenge

NXplorers in Birkat al Mouz were wondering why, in an area known as The Sea of Banana Palms, they were seeing imported bananas and fewer banana trees growing. Using the Causal Loops tool, they were able to identify a number of reasons for the absence of banana palms from their region.

The plan

To support the recovery of local native ecosystems and the development of a local economy in bananas and banana related products, the team implemented research to identify the socio economic and biological ways in which they could reintroduce bananas to the region.

The solution

The team of NXplorers identified a diverse range of banana trees that can thrive in the region’s different microclimates and engaged with local farmers and local government to develop the skills and permission to grow banana palms and reinvigorate a declining ecosystem.