The Great Green Wall attracts $14 billion in new financing

The initiative to create a Great Green Wall in the African Sahel region has succeeded in attracting new financing to the tune of $14.2 billion on the sidelines of the One Planet Summit for Biodiversity organized jointly by France, the United Nations and the World Bank on Monday, January 11 in Paris.

The sum allocated is for the period 2021-2025, a success given that the expected amount was around 10 billion dollars for the next five years. The Mauritanian President, Mohamed Ould Cheikh El-Ghazouani, current President of the Conference of Heads of State and Government of the Pan-African Agency of the Great Green Wall welcomed the establishment of the initiative.

« The mobilization of this additional funding through an innovative approach will certainly contribute to achieving the objectives of the Great Green Wall which aims by 2030 the restoration of 100 million hectares of degraded land and the creation of 10 million green jobs, » he said.

The project aims to restore, by 2030, 100 million hectares of degraded land with vegetation, which would create 10 million jobs and absorb 250 million tons of carbon from the atmosphere. Also, the initiative will enable countries in the region to access the financing needed to increase local investments and to strengthen the capacities of the Great Green Wall national agencies.

Located on the southern flank of the Sahara Desert, the Great Green Wall extends from the Atlantic coast to the Red Sea. The project needs 33 billion dollars to achieve its ambition by the year 2030, the creation of an 8,000 km long « wall » involving 11 countries.