US$2 billion committed to Sahel, W. Africa Great Green Wall
About US$2 billion has been set aside to support the Great Green Wall project in the Sahel and West Africa, the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) has said.
The Great Green Wall initiative started by the African Union some years ago to establish a protective belt in response to a combined effect of desert encroachment and other environmental degradation.
The focal point of the TerrAfrica programme at the NEPAD Agency, Mr. Ousmane Djibo, made the disclosure this week in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in a presentation at the high profile roundtable discussion on NEPAD and sustainable development at the margins of the ongoing Rio+20.
ECA is a strategic partner of the NEPAD Agency and say it assists in the implementation of NEPAD programme through direct technical support, analytical work, advisory services and knowledge management
According to an ECA press release received by WADR on Tuesday, Djibo said the development objective of the project is to expand sustainable land water management in targeted landscapes and climate-vulnerable areas in the Sahel and West Africa.
About $108 million of the total project sum was approved by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) in May 2011, said Mr. Djibo, adding that the twelve countries are involved are already developing their investment operations which are country-targeted, unique and multisectoral, the release said.
The investments are in the areas of natural regeneration of tree cover, integrated soil fertility, water harvesting, agroforestry, soil conservation, alternative livelihoods, watershed management and conservation corridors.
The project would also focus on knowledge generation and sharing, especially in economic analysis, natural resource monitoring, land suitability mapping, hydromet, and land degradation assessment
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