CoordinatE | Monitor | ACCELERATE

 

About the Great Green Wall Accelerator

The Great Green Wall multi-actor Accelerator, announced by the President of France Emmanuel Macron and other world leaders at the One Planet Summit on January 11th, 2021, seeks to facilitate the coordination and collaboration of donors and stakeholders involved in the Great Green Wall Initiative.  From an initial 14.3 billion US dollars pledged in January 2021, to over 19 billion US dollars to date, pledges in funding for the initiative, until 2025 were made by several multilateral and bilateral organizations at the Summit – a major boost for the Great Green Wall.

The Great Green Wall Accelerator aims to help all actors for the Great Green Wall (GGW) Initiative to better coordinate, monitor and measure the impact of their actions.

The Great Green Wall Accelerator will be coordinated through the Pan Africa Agency for the Great Green Wall (PAAGGW), with initial support from the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

Why do we need a Great Green Wall Accelerator?

The Great Green Wall Initiative has evolved from its initial focus on tree planting towards a comprehensive rural development initiative aiming to transform the lives of Sahelian populations by creating a mosaic of green and productive landscapes across 11 countries (Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti) .

Progress has been achieved into the second decade of the initiative, with almost 18 million hectares of degraded lands restored and 350.000 jobs created across the Sahel and the Great Green Wall countries.

However, a recent Landmark Report of the implementation status of the GGW highlighted several challenges in achieving the GGW ambitions, including: 

  • a lack of consideration in national environmental priorities

  • weak organizational structures and processes for the implementation

  • lack of mainstreaming of environmental change and action into the respective sector strategies, policies, and action plans,

  • insufficient coordination, exchange and flow of information at the regional and national levels.

The report estimates that at least 33 Billion United States Dollars will be required in the next decade to achieve the ambitions of the Great Green Wall by 2030 to:

  • Restore 100 million hectares of degraded land 

  • Sequester 250 million tons of carbon

  • Create 10 million green jobs in rural areas

To address these challenges and funding gaps, the GGW Accelerator will be consolidating progress made to date and supporting and scaling up ongoing efforts of the Great Green Wall Initiative and its 2030 ambitions.  The Accelerator will monitor and promote investments towards five pillars:

  • Pillar 1, Value Chain Investments - Investment in small and medium-sized farms, and strengthening of value chains, local markets, organization of exports

  • Pillar 2, Land Restoration - Land restoration and sustainable management of ecosystems

  • Pillar 3, Climate Resilience Infrastructure - Climate resilient infrastructures and access to renewable energy

  • Pillar 4, Societal Resilience - Favorable economic and institutional framework for effective governance, sustainability, stability and security

  • Pillar 5, Capacity Building

The Accelerator is building capacities to monitor and track progress

The Accelerator will provide a comprehensive mapping of the available funding and monitor and evaluate the impact of projects. It will ensure a tracking of progress towards achieving the 2030 ambition of the GGW. The UNCCD will support the Pan African Agency of the Great Green Wall to monitor, track progress and ensure a more coordinated support to the existing GGW member states, structures and institutions.

The Accelerator will support the Great Green Wall countries to adopt a more comprehensive approach to rural development, including improving the production systems that underpin livelihoods of smallholder farmers and pastoralist communities to increase food security, create jobs, boost local economy, through sustainable land management and help the GGW countries overcome systemic challenges of land degradation as well as the  adverse effects of climate change, in an integrated and holistic manner for long-term sustainability of the entire Sahel region.

Figure 1: Key functions of the GGW Accelerator

 
 

The Great Green Wall Accelerator will play a crucial role in the Sahel by scaling up efforts to build the resilience of rural communities, smallholder farmers and agri businesses to environmental degradation and climate change impacts in the GGW areas of intervention. 

The Accelerator will ensure that the financial commitments pledged at the One Planet Summit tackles and provides the solutions to the challenges slowing down progress for the Great Green Wall Initiative by mobilizing resources and capacities to: