CLIMATE – On the occasion of COP26, Emmanuel Macron will co-chair with Prince Charles and the President of Mauritania a meeting dedicated to the “Great Green Wall”. The megaproject, relaunched in January 2021 during the “One Planet Summit” aims, by 2030, to slow down the Sahara, thanks to the largest plantation in the world.

Y.R – 2021-11-01T09:18:37.776+01:00

It is one of Africa’s hopes for the future. Launched in 2007 at the initiative of the African Union, the “Great Green Wall” project aims to fight against desertification and the effects of climate change in eleven African countries. It takes the form of a plant barrier, a wall of trees over 8000 kilometers long and 15 kilometers wide, straddling the territories, from the Atlantic coast to the Red Sea, from Senegal to Djibouti. This green belt aims to re-green the Sahara and slow down the advance of the desert, which destroys around two million hectares of forests per year.

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COP26 in Glasgow: crucial new summit for the climate

Monday, November 1, on the sidelines of COP26, organized in Glasgow, Scotland, French President Emmanuel Macron will participate in a progress report on the project, the funding of which was relaunched and taken over at the start of the year. 2021. Prince Charles and Mohamed Ould Ghazouani, President of Mauritania and current President of the Conference of Heads of State and Government of the Pan-African Agency of the “Great Green Wall” will also participate.

Greening 100 million hectares of degraded land

Because, more than a decade after the first blows of the pickaxe, this megaproject is slow to emerge from the ground. A comprehensive report, commissioned by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, estimated, in September 2020, that around 4 million hectares had been rehabilitated in the intervention areas between 2011 and 2019. However, as the ‘explained the newspaper The echoes, which had obtained this inventory, the partner countries would have to restore some 10 million hectares per year, to meet the titanic objectives set for 2030, namely to regreen 100 million hectares of degraded land.

“Only 4 million hectares are developed, the investments fall far short of the commitments made, the dynamic is hampered by the numerous traffics and security problems”, deplored Faki Mahamat, president of the Commission of the African Union, quoted by Le Figaro. Particularly in Mali and Sudan, where the war delayed the reforestation of targeted areas.
The “Great Green Wall” is Africa’s flagship program to combat climate change and desertification. – FAO

The project redeemed during the “One Planet Summit”

As it enters its second decade, the Pan-African program, which brings together more than 20 countries, international organizations, research institutes, civil society and community organizations, has been made a priority. The project needs 33 billion dollars to be completed by 2030. On January 11, 2021, in Paris, the “One Planet Summit” for biodiversity was an opportunity to report on the evolution of this “Great Green Wall”.

On Twitter, French President Emmanuel Macron, host of this summit, announced that the partners of this major ambition, including France, would mobilize $ 14.3 billion to give the program a boost. “It is a chance for ecology, for biodiversity, for agriculture and populations”, he wrote.

“There have been ups and downs, but the Great Green Wall is part of the solutions to provide a sustainable future for the people of the Sahel”, added the French head of state. This funding must, in addition to providing the necessary impetus for land restoration and safeguarding biological diversity, allow the creation of 10 million green jobs in rural areas and strengthen the resilience of Sahelian communities, which are expected to double. by the middle of the century.
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