recent publications
Great Green Wall Communications Resources
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 seeks to provide a comprehensive mapping of the available funding and monitor and evaluate the impact of projects.
The Great Green Wall Accelerator will support implementing countries and member states to track progress towards achieving the 2030 ambition of the GGW. The UNCCD as the lead, is supporting 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.
Find some communications resources about the Great Green Wall Accelerator below.
Technical Brief N°3 - June 2022
Factsheet
FAQs
[ENG] PRESS RELEASE - Great Green Wall receives over $14 billion to regreen the Sahel – France, World Bank listed among donors
Bonn/Paris, January 11, 2021 – The ambitious Great Green Wall for the Sahel and Sahara Initiative (GGW) has received at least 14.326 billion US dollars in new funding. The funding will fast track efforts to restore degrading land, save biological diversity as well as create green jobs and build resilience of the Sahelian people.
Emmanuel Macron, President of France, made the announcement at the just concluded One Planet Summit for Biodiversity co-organized by France, the United Nations and World Bank.
The GGW snakes along the southern margin of Africa’s Sahara Desert running from the Atlantic coast to the Red Sea. The Great Green Wall Accelerator makes up 30 per cent of 33 billion United States Dollars needed to achieve the Great Green Wall’s ambitions for the year 2030.
Mohamed Cheikh El-Ghazouani, President of Mauritania and current chair of the Conference of Heads of State and Government of the Pan-African Agency of the Great Green Wall, welcomed the Accelerator program on behalf of the region.
"We welcome the announcement of the Great Green Wall Accelerator Initiative, whose objective is to release an initial contribution over the period 2021-2025, to give effect to the commitments of the financial partners in a coordinated framework," said Ghazouani.
"The mobilization of this additional funding through an innovative approach will certainly contribute to the achievement of the Great Green Wall goals, which aim by 2030, at the restoration of 100 million hectares of degraded land and the creation of 10 million green jobs.... This initiative will certainly facilitate the alignment of our partners’ interventions, in response to the concerns raised by our Ministers of Environment at the last Great Green Wall Conference," said Ghazouani.
Ghazouani stressed that it would “enable our countries, in accessing the necessary funds, to increase local investments within the framework of the five pillars adopted and to strengthen the capacities of the national agencies of the Great Green Wall. In this context, I would like to suggest the establishment, in each of our countries, of a biodiversity Fund into which we will contribute a portion of the resources resulting from the cancellation of our debts. Cancellation that we call for with all our hearts."
“Pandemic recovery is our chance to change course. With smart policies and the right investments, we can chart a path that brings health to all, revives economies and builds resilience. Innovations in energy and transport can steer a sustainable recovery and an economic and social transformation. Nature-based solutions – such as Africa’s Great Green Wall – are especially promising,” said António Guterres, UN Secretary General.
Since its inception in 2007, the Great Green Wall (GGW) has partnered with stakeholders to regreen the region and create an 8,000 km long world wonder involving at least 11 countries and to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
The GGW Initiative, now well into its second decade, is an African-led flagship program demonstrating how to harness the power of nature to provide policy solutions to multiple and complex environmental threats, such as land degradation, desertification, drought, climate change, biodiversity loss, poverty and food insecurity, simultaneously.
The GGW has inspired many African countries which are now associated with it and its work is contributing to the implementation of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework. GGW is among the iconic global campaigns targeted for completion during the Decade of Ecosystem Restoration ending in 2030.
The virtual 'One Planet Summit' for biodiversity held on January 11, 2021 in Paris was an opportunity to raise the level of ambition of the international community in protecting nature, while responding to the new questions raised by the COVID-19 pandemic as we collectively mobilize resources to build back better and improve livelihoods in the Sahel through the Great Green Wall Initiative.
The summit is mobilizing resources, heads of government and partners as well as leaders of international organizations, financial institutions, the business sector and NGOs to make commitments for concrete action to preserve and restore biodiversity, to make strong new announcements and to launch transformational initiatives for nature.
NOTE TO EDITORS
* President Macron will announce the final figure raised by the Summit at about 14:00hrs GMT.
Background Information about the Great Green Wall and the Great Green Accelerator is provided in the press kit.
This press release was revised and reflects a new quote issued by the Secretary-General and the total finance raised for the GGW.
Interviewees:
UNCCD Executive Secretary, Mr. Ibrahim Thiaw. Email request to: press@unccd.int
Louise Baker, Managing Director, Global Mechanism of UNCCD. Email: jbigila@unccd.int
Use the Request for Interview Form available here to get a rapid response.
Links to Resources
About The Great Green Wall
The Great Green Wall Initiative is regreening the Sahel, restoring degraded lands and providing decent livelihoods for its people, snaking the Sahel all the way from Senegal in the West to Djibouti in the East, restoring degraded lands and providing jobs and opportunities for millions of people in Africa.
The Great Green Wall is an African-led movement launched in 2007 by leaders from the Sahelian countries, with an epic ambition to grow an 8,000 km natural wonder of the world across the entire width of Africa.
In a post COVID context where Sahelian countries are struggling with budgets and funding, this accelerator will help meet financial requirements and turbo charge the achievement of its goals.
To complete the GGW, it is estimated that USD 33 billion US dollars of investment – from private, national and international sources will be needed.
THE GREAT GREEN WALL TO RECEIVE NEW FUNDING AT OPS 2021
10 January 2021 - The One Planet Summit for Biodiversity gathered leaders from around the world to bring concrete and innovative solutions for reducing pressure on nature. One key focus was on agroecology as a tool that can protect the diversity of ecosystems while enabling job creation and ensuring food security – a concrete example of the impact nature-based solutions can have on both environmental and socio-economic issues.
The Great Green Wall was a highlight of the summit. In the morning, the Great Green Wall Investment Forum opened a dialogue about channeling private finance to achieve the Great Green Wall by 2030. UNCCD lead engagements with Private Sector leaders for the Great Green Wall Umbrella programme, which aims to bring climate financing and expertise to the initiative.
In the afternoon, the President of France, President Emmanuel Macron announced the Great Green Accelerator, a multi-stakeholder mobilization to support the completion of the Great Green Wall by 2030.
GGW STATUS IMPLEMENTATION REPORT LAUNCHED
November 2020.
The Great Green Wall: Implementation Status and Way Ahead to 2030 was launched on 7 September 2020.
The report evaluates the implementation of a most ambitious project along the southern tip of the Saharan desert in Africa.
The GGW is an African-led initiative, launched by the African Union in 2007 and designed to transform the lives of 100 million people by growing an 8,000 km long and 15 km wide mosaic of trees, grasslands, vegetation and plants that can restore the degraded lands and help the region's inhabitants produce adequate food, create jobs and promote peace.