A fragile green wall in Africa

Published on : 09/03/2021 – 15:29

The “great green wall” was launched in 2007 to fight against desertification, by creating a strip of vegetation from Dakar to Djibouti. A wall of 8000 kilometers which crosses 11 countries of the African continent. Since then, the project has taken a more social turn: it aims to restore land eaten by the desert and create millions of jobs. But its fallout is very meager to date. Nearly 12 billion euros were raised at the start of 2021 to try to revive it.

the progress report, presented in September 2020 by the United Nations, was hardly encouraging: barely 4% of the target set for 2030 was reached, or 4 million hectares of land developed out of the 100 million of the program – half of which was achieved by Ethiopia and its ambitious reforestation program. Our correspondents Sarah Sakho and Moïse Gomis went to Senegal and Nigeria, two Sahelian countries which experience this project in a very different way.

To support this project which is close to his heart, Emmanuel Macron announced on January 12 that an envelope of $ 14.3 billion (11.8 billion euros) over five years had been established. “We are truly preparing the Africa of 2030”, said the French president during the fourth edition of the “One Planet Summit” devoted to biodiversity.

“It is 100 million hectares restored, 10 million jobs created, 250 million tons of carbon sequestered. It is also, through this initiative, the capacity for Africa to show that it is an actor of the fight against global warming, ”he added. Donors include the World Bank and the European Commission. a secretariat was put in place to ensure that commitments are met.

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