The Great Green Wall for the Sahel and the Sahara Initiative, which seeks to restore 100 million hectares of degraded land and create 10 million green jobs by 2030, has entered a new phase with partners pledging USD 16.85 billion in international finance for the Wall’s 11 involved countries over the next five years. To date, 4 percent of the Wall is estimated to be complete, bumped to 18 percent when taking into account associated improvements outside the direct intervention areas.

The funding, which makes up more than 30 percent of USD 33 billion needed to reach the end line, seeks to bring rural development initiatives to scale in a region ravaged by the combined effects of drought, poverty and food insecurity. The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) will facilitate discussions on resource allocation and follow up on commitments by donors including the African Development Bank (USD 6.5 billion), the World Bank (USD 5 billion) and the European Commission (USD 2.5 billion).

The Great Green Wall was launched in 2007 by the African Union as a 7,000-kilometer barrier stretching from Senegal to Djibouti. The objective was to stop creeping desertification through a trans-continental mosaic of green, productive landscapes that would fight land degradation and loss of biodiversity. A status report published in 2020, though, concluded that more funds, technical support and monitoring were needed to realize this vision. The initiative had, as of then, only received around USD 1 billion.
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