Africa’s Great green wall initiative
- November 30, 2021
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN Topics
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Africa’s Great green wall initiative
Topic: Environment
Context:
Africa’s Great Green Wall (GGW) programme to combat desertification in the Sahel region is an important contribution towards combating climate change, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) said in a study.
The study showed that for every dollar invested into land restoration yields across the African continent from Senegal in the west to Djibouti in the east, investors can expect an average return of $1.20, with outcomes ranging between $1.10 and $4.40.
Concept:
- The Great Green Wall for Sahel and Sahara Initiative recently received 14 billion USD funds at the recent One Planet Summit for Biodiversity. The funding is to be used to restore degraded land, strengthen resilience, create green jobs and protect biodiversity. Among the financiers, the World Bank has committed 5 billion USD, African Development Bank committed 6.5 billion USD and Government of France committed 14 billion USD.
- The Great Green Wall (GGW) Project to address desertification, land degradation and climate change in the Sahel region of Africa has hit a new low due to funds crunch.
- The Great Green Wall project is conceived by 11 countries located along the southern border of the Sahara and their international partners, is aimed at limiting the desertification of the Sahel zone.
- Led by the African Union, the initiative aims to transform the lives of millions of people by creating a mosaic of green and productive landscapes across North Africa.
- The initial idea of the GGW was to develop a line of trees from east to the west bordering the Saharan Desert.
- Its vision has evolved into that of a mosaic of interventions addressing the challenges facing the people in the Sahel and the Sahara.
- The African initiative is still only 15% complete.
- Once fully completed, the Wall will be the largest living structure on the planet – an 8,000 km natural wonder of the world stretching across the entire width of the continent.
- African countries during the UNCCCD COP14 sought global support in terms of finance to make the Wall a reality in the continent’s Sahel region by 2030.
- Sahel is a semiarid region of western and north-central Africa extending from Senegal eastward to Sudan.
- It forms a transitional zone between the arid Sahara (desert) to the north and the belt of humid savannas to the south.
Need for such project:
- The project is a response to the combined effect of natural resources degradation and drought in rural areas.
- It is a partnership that supports communities working towards sustainable management and use of forests, rangelands and other natural resources.
- It seeks to help communities mitigate and adapt to climate change, as well as improve food security.
- The GGW offers multiple (environmental, social and economic) benefits on an epic scale, touching on 15 of the 17 United Nations-mandated Sustainable Development Goals.
- The project aims to restore 100 million hectares of degraded land by 2030; only four million hectares had been restored between 2007 and 2019.
- By 2030, the GGW aims to sequester 250 million tonnes of carbon, restore 100 million hectares of currently degraded land and create 10 million jobs for the world’s poorest people.