The Great Green Wall and Sustainability Challenges in Africa
The Great Green Wall and sustainability challenges in Africa
The definition of the term “human rights” varies from one culture to another and from one society to another. This term has been evolving over successive centuries to become more comprehensive, including the right to a decent life, equality for all before the law, and many other rights that the article does not have room to mention. But recently – and in view of the rapid changes the world is witnessing in climate aspects – human rights among current generations have been clearly threatened, and will be threatened as well. Between future generations.
Climate change poses a serious threat to the basic rights to life, such as: health, food, and an adequate standard of living for individuals and communities around the world; Because of this, many countries are taking serious sustainable steps to limit climate change and preserve the acquired rights of their people.
Countries in theSahel regionare not out of the loop when it comes to making major sustainable strides, as they are making epic efforts within the “Great Green Wall” initiative, an initiative led by the African Union that aims to plant a wall of trees and restore forests extending 8,000 kilometers across the continent.
“The Great Green Wall” is a remarkable initiative aimed at helping people and nature deal with the growing impact of the climate emergency and the degradation of vital ecosystems, in addition to preventing the Sahara Desert from expanding deeper into one of the world’s poorest regions.
Comprehensive African Rural Development
The Great Green Wall, launched by the African Union, began in 2007 and has since grown from an ambitious tree-planting campaign into a comprehensive rural development initiative in the Sahel countries. The goal has gone from planting an actual wall of trees to saving millions of lives, by creating green and productive landscapes in 11 countries, and to date, nearly 7.5 million acres of degraded land have been restored.
The pivotal role of the initiative and its great positive impact made it recognized by the United Nations among 10 other global initiatives to restore the ecosystem in the “United Nations Decade for Ecosystem Restoration.” The decade is considered a global movement affiliated with the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and aims to restore natural spaces and prevent their degradation.
By 2030, the “Great Green Wall” aims to restore approximately 42 million acres of land, sequester 250 million tons of carbon, and create 10 million jobs; Therefore, the initiative has a major contribution to preserving food and water security in the African continent, preserving the habitats of wild plants and animals, and supporting areas suffering from drought and poverty.
Strengthening local initiatives
Although vulnerable communities all the way from Senegal in the west to Ethiopia in the east are benefiting from the Great Green Wall, the areas that benefit most from the initiative are more concentrated in Burkina Faso and Niger.
The city of Kolo in Niger is one of several cities that will receive assistance from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, the United Nations Environment Programme, government authorities, and other partners in local communities; This is to restore forests and soil.
With support from donors – including France and Germany – the initiative helps communities in Niger and Burkina Faso start land restoration projects, develop capacity and make planning and implementing their green investments easier.
Nature’s Helping Hand
Farmers in Kullu used a traditional technique to restore degraded lands and prevent desertification, by digging crescent-shaped trenches, as these trenches can capture rare rainwater and direct it towards growing plants.
Another method of restoring land naturally involves protecting areas of land, trees and other plants from grazing animals and others, allowing these areas to regenerate; These restored lands can therefore provide good conditions for growing crops or beekeeping.
These lands were completely dry and bare, and these trees and grasses that are found now are the result of the hard work of farmers, thus making them a direct contributor to supporting efforts to reduce climate change, in addition to providing job opportunities and a sustainable source of income.
Women taking the initiative
As training is part of the initiative, men and women are trained in agroforestry practices, and other ways to increase their incomes.
The project enabled women in Kullu to secure lands on which to grow moringa trees, which are trees whose leaves and seeds can be eaten as vegetables with high nutritional value, or converted into oil, and even used to filter drinking water.
The “Great Green Wall” initiative is one of the bright spots in climate action within the African continent. On the one hand, it representssustainable stepstoward reducing climate change, and on the other hand, it enhances the protection of human rights that could be crushed overnight due to climate change, and perhaps the recent famine in Madagascar is the best evidence of this.
