World leaders renew commitment to strengthen climate resilience through Africa’s ‘Great Green Wall’

World leaders and heads of major international agencies have pledged $ 4billion over the next 5 years to step up implementation of the Great Green Wall for the Sahara and Sahel Initiative (GGWSSI).

Over the next 10 years, more than 50 million hectares of land will be restored, which will help sequester an estimated 250 million tons of carbon. The metaphoric Great Green Wall will provide sustainable alternatives for millions of young people considering migrating from poverty-stricken areas in Africa’s Sahel region.

Leaders expressed hope that the renewed commitment to the GGWSSI – Africa’s largest rural development project – will create new opportunities for communities right across the Sahel, whilst establishing greater resilience against climate change long into the future.

The Great Green Wall – originally launched in 2007 – is taking root in Africa’s Sahel region, one of the world’s most vulnerable areas to climatic variability. Macky Sall, President of Senegal, said his country has already “planted 12 million trees and restored 25,000 ha of degraded land. This has helped boost long-term food, energy, water and economic security.”

President Sall was speaking at the Global Summit of the Heads of State and Government that are GGWSSI member states. The Summit was hosted by France’s President François Holland in parallel to the Climate Change Conference taking place in Paris, France.

The Ministerial meeting held with Heads of development partners was the follow-up to the Summit, with the renewed commitments coming from the Government of France, African Development Bank, Global Environment Facility, World Bank, and European Union, as well as the African leaders.

The changes to Lake Chad, which borders five countries in West Africa and serves a large population in the region, including 2 million people who benefit directly, signals the depth of the crises.

In just 30 years it has shrunk by nearly ten times its original size from 25,000km2 to 2,500 km2. During this period, demand for water and arable land soared as the population around the lake rose from 22 million in 1991 to 38 million in 2012. The population is expected to reach 50 million by 2020.

More than 20 million people in the Sahel are currently food insecure, according to the UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs.

A virtual reality film of the Wall, produced by the UN Convention to Combat Desertification together with global brand studio, venture three, is currently being shown at the Africa Pavilion, at COP21.

The film titled, Growing a World Wonder, follows Binta, a young Senegalese girl, as she and her family tend to their section of the Wall. It explores the challenges they face and how the project is already transforming their lives for the better.

“There are many world wonders, but the Great Green Wall will be unique and everyone can be a part of its history,” says Dr. Dlamini Zuma, Chairperson, African Union Commission. “Together, we can change the future of African communities in the Sahel.”