Africa’s Great Green Wall just 4% complete halfway through the schedule. The project needs more support if the plan to plant 100m hectares of vegetation is to be realized.

The world’s most daring reforestation project, the Great Green Wall of Africa, has secured just 4% of its objective region. However, is more than halfway towards its 2030 completion date, as per a status report. The Great Green Wall was conceived in 2007. It is a product of the African Union as a 7,000km (4,350-mile) cross-continental barrier stretching from Senegal to Djibouti. This will help to hold back the deserts of the Sahara and Sahel.

“The Great Green Wall is a new world wonder in the making,” said the UN deputy secretary-general. “It shows that if we work with nature, rather than against it. We can build a more sustainable and equitable future”. The goals include improving livelihoods in one of the world’s poorest regions. Other benefits are to capture carbon dioxide and reduce conflict, terrorism, and migration.

A major problem is monitoring. “One of the main problems we had was to try to track the project. There is not a good monitoring and evaluation system in place,” said Salwa Bahbah. The firm hired to draw up the report. “We don’t know where the money goes exactly and how it is used.”

More funds, greater technical support, and tighter oversight will be needed. This will aid the plan to plant 100m hectares of trees and other vegetation is to be realized.

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