The Benefits of Land Restoration are Visible Now in Many Places Like Burkina Faso

Africa’s Great Green Wall Initiative, which is aiming to restore 100 million hectares of degraded land across the Sahel in an 8,000 km-long strip, sequester 250 million tonnes of carbon, and create 10 million jobs in rural areas by 2030. The initiative, which was launched in 2007 by the African Union, has already restored over 20 million hectares across the continent, sequestered tonnes of carbon and created over 300,000 rural jobs. In response to these promising early results, a cash stimulus of over $14 billion, known as the Great Green Wall Accelerator, was announced by world leaders at the One Planet Summit in January to help speed up the completion of the project. This is the model we need to follow. The number of countries and companies making commitments to keep the land healthy grew during the UN Decade for Deserts and the Fight against Desertification, which ended last year. Over 100 countries are now pursuing Land Degradation Neutrality goals through the UN Convention to Combat Desertification. This is 450 million hectares of commitments, and counting – roughly half of the one billion in global restoration commitments to date.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA