Why Africa is Building The Great Green Wall

Africa’s Great Green Wall: a bursting dream?

Good news for Africa’s Great Green Wall

The Great Green Wall is an initiative to combat land degradation, desertification, and drought in the Sahel region, started by the African Union in 2007. Although contributing little to climate change, Africa has been suffering from its impacts early. Especially the Sahel region has been devastated by severe droughts and massive loss of fertile land in the last 30 years. While 65 percent of the land is degraded, 80 percent of the population still relies on rain-fed agriculture. People live off the land and depend on its productivity to survive.

Therefore, the idea was born to plant 8.000 km-long and 15 km-wide barriers of trees from Senegal in the West to Djibouti in the East of Africa to hold back the Sahara desert. Over the last years, this vision has evolved into striving for a mosaic of green and productive landscapes rather than mass tree planting. While there were 11 founding states at the beginning, the Great Green Wall is now being implemented in 21 countries across Africa. The project is financially supported by the World Bank, the Eu, and the United Nations, among others.

Tabi Joda, an ambassador for the Great Green Wall from Cameroon, sees the project as a holistic approach to improve the living conditions of the people in the Sahel zone: “It’s not just about planting trees. It’s about restoring communities”, he said. The Great Green Wall aims to boost food security, improve health, and create new jobs and income opportunities for the local communities. “The Great Green Wall has become Africa’s biggest opportunity”, he says.

At the recent One Planet Summit for Biodiversity, the Great Green Wall for the Sahel and Sahara Initiative (GGW) received $14 billion in additional funding pledges for the next ten years. This financial support will scale up efforts to restore degraded land, create green jobs, strengthen resilience, and protect biodiversity. Among the financiers are the Government of France, the African Development Bank, and the World Bank.

“Pandemic recovery is also our chance to change course,” said António Guterres, UN Secretary-General. “With smart policies and the right investments, we can chart a path that…revives economies and builds resilience. Innovations in energy and transport can steer a sustainable recovery. Nature-based solutions – such as Africa’s Great Green Wall – are especially promising.”

There are several reasons slowing down to build the Great Green Wall. As the population keeps growing and people rely on revenues, it is not sure that farmers may cut and sell the trees they planted as part of the projects. In addition, terrorism and unsure economic and political conditions make the future situation unpredictable for investors.
Another problem is monitoring. Countries lack the capacities and financial means to report and evaluate the progress. Insufficient reporting causes donors to lose confidence in the project and become less likely to fund it. Moreover, the Great Green Wall lacks political support for the environmental policy agenda from the government of the respective countries.

When planting trees, it is important to track the survival rates five to ten years after planting. Many tree-planting projects in Africa have failed and millions of dollars have been wasted. The Great Green Wall aims to make it different by ensuring biodiversity and ecosystems that are holistically restored.

The Great Green Wall could also be a solution to the migrant crisis in Europe by preventing Africans from traveling across the Mediterranean in search of a better future. For Africa, which has suffered many years of colonization, it is a step to greater self-reliance. The Great Green Wall is seen as an image of decolonization. It enhances the integrity and the dignity of an African.

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