Instagram | @greatgreenwallafrica

'Great Green Wall' Of Africa Seeks To Stop The Spread Of The Sahara Desert

Updated September 7, 2021

Great challenges require ambitious solutions.

For example, for most of us the first indication that COVID-19 was something to worry about came when Chinese authorities completely locked down Wuhan and Hubei, a region with more than 10 million people, and built two makeshift 1,000-bed hospitals in under two weeks in anticipation of a massive outbreak.

In Africa, the challenge isn't quite the same as trying to contain a pandemic, but the scale of the solution being undertaken gives you sense of how big a problem the continent faces.

If everything comes together, the continent of Africa will one day be split in half by a huge "wall" of trees: the Great Green Wall of Africa.

Instagram | @greatgreenwallafrica

It's a concept that's both simple and complex: to plant and grow a world wonder, an 8,000 kilometer (about 5,000 miles) long swath of forest that stretches from the Atlantic Ocean in Senegal in the west to the Indian Ocean in Djibouti in the east.

The goal? Stopping the encroachment and spread of the mighty Sahara Desert.

The hope is that the Great Green Wall of Africa will have many knock-on benefits as well.

Instagram | @greatgreenwallafrica

Obviously stopping the expansion of the desert would be good on its own, but the forest would also be a much-needed source of food security and jobs - the wall's proponents suggest up to 10 million jobs could be created.

The added trees should also help mitigate droughts, create more arable land, and cut more than 250 million tons of carbon dioxide from the air, and the jobs should help to stop the drain of migration.

It sounds fairly straightforward, but the project has encountered considerable challenges.

Instagram | @greatgreenwallafrica

The Great Green Wall of Africa has actually been under construction since 2007. Thirteen years later, it's only 15% complete.

Bringing together the more than 20 nations the wall will pass through is a challenge on its own, as they tend to have differing priorities, especially the nations dealing with conflicts and terrorist organizations like Boko Haram. Many war-torn nations simply don't have the funds for trees.

So, meeting a deadline of completing the Great Green Wall by 2030 will take some doing.

Instagram | @greatgreenwallafrica

Where it has been possible, some noteworthy progress has been made. In Ethiopia, for example, more than 15 million hectares of once-desolate soil has been reclaimed since 2007, DW reported. In Nigeria, reforestation has restored more than five million hectares and created 20,000 green jobs.

That's no small thing - one villager at a Great Green Wall project in Senegal told The Telegraph that it has transformed her family's life. "We grow vegetables to feed our families and to sell for money," the mother of four said. "We’ve even opened a bank account that people can borrow money from. It makes money, takes me out of the house and gives me freedom."

Although the project is clearly behind schedule, its proponents remain optimistic that it can be transformative for the whole continent.

Instagram | @greatgreenwallafrica

And that it can be done on schedule, too.

"If enough work is put into the green wall, we may soon have no continuous wall, but we will have one rich mosaic of different initiatives that contribute to people's livelihood and food safety," climate consultant Janani Vivekananda told DW. "If women and young people are included, the Great Green Wall will be a success by 2030."

h/t: DW, The Telegraph

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