Great Green Wall

Green Wall of Africa in the Sahel is one in July 2005 by the African Union ( AU) decreed project against desertification in the Sahel.

Models

Serve as a model Green Wall of China or the of Thomas Sankara in Burkina Faso from 1983 to 1987 initiated projects, which were, however zunichtegemacht again after his assassination by the successor governments. Under the presidency of Olusegun Obasanjo, the AU made ​​the project their own.

Similarities also exist with the more decentralized aligned Green Belt Movement, whose main initiator is the Nobel Prize winner Wangari Maathai.

Project

The Green Wall in the Sahel should be at least 5 km wide and 7775 km long, making it rich as from Dakar in the west to Djibouti in the east of Africa. There are about 11.7 million hectares of forest are planted. To be planted mostly native trees and shrubs. They are planting the local population supported by agriculture experts. The plants are intended both for their own needs (eg for food) as well as for export (eg for biofuels ) and be suitable for growing on sandy soils and in water-scarce areas.

By planting an extreme loss of land to prevent, if possible, the Desertifikationsprozess to be even reversed. Implicitly desired effects are more frequent rains, again increasing groundwater levels and less sand storms. These effects would also affect areas that are not yet affected by devastation. It is expected that through this project the progressive impoverishment of the people of this region can be stopped and sustainably improve their living conditions.

Participant

The eleven African countries of Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Djibouti are involved in the project.

Progress

In Senegal, up to October 2010 trees were planted on a total length of 525 km. Senegal, a country loses about 50,000 acres of land in the Sahara desert every year, is currently undertaking a pioneering position.

Criticism

Critics complain that a verbatim implementation in the form of a continuous " green belt " is ecologically and socially inefficient. As the desertification spreading unevenly, decentralized approaches are promising. The planting was there promising, where the local residents would win for active participation. In a central large project, however, there is a risk that the funds flowed about in national forestry ministries, without unfolding sustainable results on the ground.