BULAWAYO, January 6 (IPS) – Escalating conflict and climate change threaten the implementation of the Great Green Wall Initiative (GGWI), an ambitious land restoration project across Asia Fly.
The promoters of Great Green Wall called for strong political will to bring about peace and increase investment in environmental conservation, which the project launched 16 years ago seeks to strengthen.
Competition for natural resources affected by climate change is fueling conflict between nations, especially in West Africa, an area that lies on the path of the Great Green Wall. The Wall is an African-led project that aims to halt desertification across Africa by restoring more than 100 million hectares of degraded land.
These trees will grow money
The project initially aimed to plant trees in the Sahel region from Senegal in the west to Djibouti in the east, but its scope has since been expanded to restore degraded land in more than 20 countries to isolate 250 million tonnes carbon and create 10 million green jobs by 2030, say project promoters.
“To date, the project has covered more than 4% of the target 100 million hectares, but it is reaching its target,” said Paul Elvis Tangem, coordinator of the Great Green Wall Initiative at the African Union Commission. be well on track to complete the deadline.
According to the United Nations status report, the Green Great Wall needs to cover 8 million hectares of land a year at a cost of up to $4.3 billion if it is to meet the implementation deadline.
Tangem said the project, which has received numerous grants from governments, donors and multilateral development banks, will require more than US$50 billion to implement by 2030. Currently, around $27 billion US dollars were pledged, a seemingly huge amount. Not much, Tangem says, considering the $1:7 return on investment in nature-based solutions.
Tangem noted that the escalating impacts of climate change across Africa justify the rapid implementation of the project, which is now not only planting millions of trees across Africa but also an approach. comprehensive to unlock economic and ecological benefits for many countries.
Launched in 2007, the Green Great Wall is projected that the land restoration initiative will promote economic prosperity in the participating countries, create jobs, reduce hunger and reduce conflict, which is involved in the fight for access to and use of natural resources around the world. breadth of Africa.
“Different COPs from UNFCCC COP 15, UNFCCC-COP27 and CBDCOP15 have recognized the Great Green Wall as an important project giving further impetus to integrate it into all development plans and make it possible to show it more clearly,” said Tangem, noting that the impacts of climate change today and conflicts arising from the use of natural resources are challenges the project is seeking to address.
Restoring the land, restoring peace
Conflict and climate are the biggest threats to the full implementation of the Great Green Wall, Tangem explained, adding that the impact of drought across Africa has proven important. of GGWI, which has attracted global attention as a solution to land degradation, drought. and desertification.
Tangem told IPS in an interview: “The main challenges we face today, especially for farmers, is the problem of grasslands, which is the biggest cause of conflict in the region. the dry land of Africa,” Tangem told IPS in an interview, noting that there is high competition for livestock land between countries and within the country. countries, especially in West Africa, where part of the Great Green Wall runs through. He argues that the conflict in the Tigray region is less political and more environmental.
“It’s competition for land, its politics is what we see, but the underlying cause is natural resources,” says Tangem. “People don’t want to tell the truth, but many of the conflicts in Africa are essentially drylands, which are the areas most vulnerable to climate change and where GGWI is focusing on. . So we have a challenge.”
Commenting that it is now impossible to work in Mali, Burkina Faso, Republic of Niger, Chad, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Eritrea due to conflict, Tangem stressed the need to restore peace by restoring the environment.
The biggest challenge we face today is security,” commented Tangem. “Conflict is a big, huge challenge. Most of the current challenges are due to competition for natural resources, benefit sharing of scarce resources from water, fertile land, fishing and targeted lands. service.”
When the Great Green Wall Initiative started, there was skepticism that it was a ‘white elephant’, says Tangem, but now it’s the project to support.
In November 2022, global leaders formed the International Drought Resilience Coalition to create the political momentum to make land resilience to drought and climate change a reality. 2030. This alliance is the driving force behind the Great Green Wall Initiative.
Droughts are occurring more frequently and more severely than before, increasing by almost a third since 2000. Climate change is expected to cause more severe droughts in the future. Ibrahim Thiaw said recent droughts in Australia, Europe, the western US, Chile, the Horn and South Africa showed that no country or region was immune to their impact, causing damage to thousands of dollars. billion dollars a year, not to mention human suffering. , Executive Secretary, United Nations Convention against Desertification (UNCCD).
The United Nations has recognized the Great Green Wall Initiative as one of 10 pioneering efforts to revitalize the natural world, designating it as one of the World Restoration Flags.
Tangem said recognizing the Great Green Wall Initiative as a key program for land restoration has elevated it beyond an African project.
“As people were still talking about the realities of climate change, Africa saw the need to respond to this challenge through this programme. The project has put desertification and drought on the global agenda,” said Tangem.
Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), warns that the world cannot turn a blind eye to the impacts and effects of degraded lands in places like the Sahel, where millions face a wide range of vulnerabilities, including including climate shocks and conflict. Andersen stressed that action to tackle the drought is urgent.
Noting that desertification is becoming a major crisis, Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, part of the International Drought Resilience Coalition, said the coalition was focusing on seek appropriate nature- and technology-based solutions as well as social approaches to solve this problem. prevent further land degradation.
Presidents Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón of Spain and Macky Sall of Senegal have gathered world leaders to form the Coalition as “a concrete United Nations solution” to the impacts of climate change. climate change. In a joint statement, they stated that building resilience to drought disasters is the way to ensure achievement of the sustainable development goals, especially for those most vulnerable. most hurt. Report of the UN IPS Office
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© Inter Press Service (2023) — All rights reservedOrigin: Inter Press Service
