The Great Green Wall — Pico Analytics

This image shows a village on the area of the Sahara desert in North Chad.

In Pico Analytics’ last insight post on Emily Robinsons Zoom Talk, ‘The Climate Crisis and it’s Solutions’, we mentioned The Great Green Wall and how it provides a light of optimism amidst the climate crisis. [1] This article will go into greater depth about the environmental and social implications of The Great Green Wall as well as how it helps to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

The Great Green Wall is famously known as Africa’s flagship initiative to combat climate change whilst also improving the livelihoods for one of the world’s poorest regions. By 2030, the wall aims to restore 100 million hectares of barren land across the Sahel. This will directly result in a reduction of 250 million tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere and the creation of 10 million jobs for residents in the locality. [2]

Once complete, the wall will span 8,000km of greenery across the Sahel. In geographic terms, the wall will stretch from Senegal to Djibouti, the entire width of the African continent. [3] This will make the wall the largest living structure on the planet – 3 times the size of the Great Barrier Reef. [4]

The great greeen wall.jpg — This image shows the estimated width of the Great Green Wall on completion.

Although construction of the wall began in 2007, the idea was planted in the minds of the creator’s decades before that. In the 1970s, inhabitants of the Sahel began to notice the once green and luscious region turn increasingly dry and barren. [5] This was due to a number of reasons: the effects of climate change, population growth as well as unsustainable land management practices. [6] A lack of sufficient food and water in the Sahel led to mass levels of poverty, mass unemployment and forced migration. In the 1980s, political leaders began to find long term solutions to solve the range of problems. The idea of The Great Green Wall was born.

In 2007, after years of careful planning and collaborating across African nations, the African Union launched the initiative of The Great Green Wall. The project was given a budget of $2 billion, stemming largely from The World Bank. [7] Its main aims were to transform the lives of millions of people by rejuvenating the barren land in the Sahel. [8] In total, 20 African countries currently contribute to the wall.

Today, 14 years since its’ birth, it has achieved 15% of its 8,000km of green space goal. [9] Its innovation to tackle climate change and commitment to providing social good has meant that it has attracted funding from other international partners too including Kew Gardens, The European Union and the United Nations. [10] Through restoring degraded land whilst simultaneously fighting poverty and improving well-being, The Great Green Wall supports 15 out of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. [11]

Although the wall is only 15% complete, there are already some notable successes that can be celebrated within the nations that have contributed to building The Great Green Wall in regards to combatting climate change, a key focus of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. In Senegal there have already been 12 million drought resistant trees planted. [12] Drought resistant trees include fig, grape and gingko biloba trees – all of which are able to tolerate the dry conditions in the Sahel region. Not only will the trees in the region improve air quality by producing oxygen and storing carbon dioxide, they will also improve the biodiversity for the region. [13]

The wall is also taking great steps to eliminate poverty in the region, another one of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. In Niger, 5 million hectares of land have been restored. This has resulted in an additional 500,000 tonnes of grain per year, enough to feed 2.5 million people. [14] This additional produce can be used for both combatting the high levels of malnutrition in the region as well as providing an income for residents through exporting commodities for profit. [15]

Interestingly, the BBC report that they believe that the additional economic prosperity as a result of the Great Green Wall in areas such as Mali will also translate to a reduction of terrorist activities in the region. [16]

Despite these optimistic and initial successes of the wall, the journey to restoring 100 million hectares of land by 2030 has only begun. 20 million people in the Sahel are still on the verge of starvation as a result of food crisis. [17] This means that although there can be considerable wins celebrated from the first 14 years of the Walls existence, more work is left to be done in order to build the remaining 85% of the wall. Much of this will require an increase in funding from international investors to achieve the 2030 target.

[1] https://www.picoanalytics.co.uk/insights/zoom-talk-review-the-climate-crisis-and-its-solutions

[2] https://www.greatgreenwall.org/2030ambition

[3] https://www.unccd.int/actions/great-green-wall-initiative

[4] https://www.greatgreenwall.org/about-great-green-wall/

[5]https://www.greatgreenwall.org/history#:~:text=Africa%E2%80%99s%20dream%20of%20a%20Great%20Green%20Wall%20dates,the%20Sahara%20Desert%2C%20started%20to%20become%20severely%20degraded.

[6]https://www.greatgreenwall.org/history#:~:text=Africa%E2%80%99s%20dream%20of%20a%20Great%20Green%20Wall%20dates,the%20Sahara%20Desert%2C%20started%20to%20become%20severely%20degraded.

[7] https://www.nationalgeographic.org/article/great-green-wall/

[8] https://www.unwater.org/the-great-green-wall/

[9] https://www.greatgreenwall.com/

[10] https://www.greatgreenwall.org/partners

[11] https://www.greatgreenwall.org/2030ambition

[12] https://www.greatgreenwall.org/results