Africa's Great Green Wall initiative struggles to halt desertification

DW (English)

Billions of dollars have been poured into the African Green Wall project designed to stop land degradation and desertification. But the arid truth is that only 30% of targets have been met.

Transcript

00:00Africa's Great Green Wall.

00:02It is supposed to be a beacon of hope, standing as the largest living structure on our planet,

00:08spanning 8,000 kilometers across Africa.

00:12It holds the promise of a new era, one of sustainability and economic growth.

00:17The idea?

00:18To stop the spread of the desert, restore 100 million hectares of infertile land, bind

00:24250 million tons of carbon and create 10 million green jobs by 2030.

00:31However, Africa's Great Green Wall is not without its challenges.

00:35It is running dry on crucial resources, money, engagement and time.

00:41Welcome to the flip side.

00:43Seventeen years since its implementation in 2007, only 30% of the project has been completed.

00:50The project was estimated to require at least $33 billion to achieve its 2030 target.

00:57International donors pledged some $19 billion in 2021, but by 2023 only $2.5 billion had

01:05materialized.

01:06Was Africa's Great Green Wall an expensive pipe dream?

01:10And should it be carried on at all?

01:13We have a missing link, which is the dialogue with civil society organizations.

01:19I think they are the labor force in the implementation of the Green Green Wall.

01:24They need means, they need to be supported, they need also national policies that encourage

01:32them, that enable them to do what they have to do.

01:36Yet, it's not all bleak.

01:39Considerable strides have been made with almost 18 million hectares of degraded land restored

01:44so far.

01:45However, progress is undeniably slow, the results are now rather frustrating and the

01:51spending exorbitantly high.

01:54Should the project be continued or is it time to look for new solutions?

01:59This is not acceptable at all.

02:01We are too slow and in between, in the meantime, land is degrading more and more.

02:09People are suffering, water, water stress, drought is occurring in these areas.

02:17So what does it take to keep the dream of Africa's Great Green Wall?

02:22Every African, every African should take the Great Green Wall as a flagship program, as

02:27a program that everybody will be involved.

02:31Under which conditions is the project doomed?

02:34This initiative, if we combine it with politics, then we will bury it.

02:40It's beyond the politics.

02:41For the dream of Africa's Great Green Wall to survive, it is crucial to involve every

02:47African, regardless of their location or status in this project.

02:51A united approach from both the public and private sectors is essential.

02:55It is important to foster a common understanding that this Green Wall will eventually benefit

03:00each and every one.

03:02This collective effort is the only way that Africa's Great Green Wall will still be

03:07able to blossom.

03:08And that is the flip side.

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