The African Union (AU) has decided to extend the Great Green Wall project to southern Africa. This was reported by Bloomberg, quoting the AU coordinator of this initiative for ecological restoration and the fight against food insecurity in sub-Saharan Africa, Elvis Paul Tangem.
“Climate change, migration, lack of funds and conflicts have hampered tree planting efforts in originally planned areas, but modern technologies and innovative funding mechanisms are opening up new possibilities in new areas,” an official statement reads, that today it is almost impossible to continue planting trees and restoring degraded land in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad, Nigeria, Eritrea and Northern Cameroon precisely because of insecurity, a reality that calls for reallocation of funds to humanitarian assistance .
“We are now moving to areas less threatened by insecurity and less prone to conflict, including southern Africa. We realize that Madagascar, Angola, Namibia and South Africa have suffered from severe drought and desertification in recent years. The Great Green Wall now extends to these countries”.
Launched in 2007 by the AU, the initiative initially envisaged the continuous planting of millions of trees over a 15km-wide strip from Senegal to Djibouti. This project was revised in 2013 with a vast program for the sustainable management of ecosystems and the improvement of the living conditions of rural populations affected by soil degradation: the objective is in particular to restore 100 million hectares of land, capture and store 250 million tonnes of CO2 through vegetation and create 10 million jobs in rural areas by 2030, while contributing to food security in one of the world‘s regions most affected by malnutrition.
According to a study published by the United Nations, at the end of 2019 the Great Green Wall project had only achieved around 20% of its objectives, mainly due to lack of funds and conflicts. To mobilize new funds, according to the coordinator, interest is now focused on new financial instruments such as natural debt swaps, climate bonds and green bonds. [Da Redazione InfoAfrica]
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