By Ismail Auwal
The African Development Bank pledged to mobilize $6.5 Billion to support efforts of Sahelian countries to fight desertification.
The AfDB president Akinwumi Adesina made the pledge during the OnePlanet summit hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday.
“The future of the Sahel region depends on the Great Green Wall. Without the Great Green Wall, the Sahel region as we know it may disappear”, said Adesina.
The Great Green Wall project Launched in 2007 by the African African Union, is a concerted attempt to roll back the Sahara desert.
It seeks to help communities in the Sahel and Sahara regions to mitigate and adapt to climate change but also to improve food security.
The Great Green Wall initiative aims to plant an 8,000 km long and 15 km wide mosaic of trees, grasslands, vegetation and plants across the Sahara and Sahel to help restore the degraded lands and help the region’s inhabitants produce adequate food, create jobs and promote peace in the region but funding constraints have curtailed its vast ambitions.
The Sahel lies at the southern edge of the Sahara desert. The semi-arid region of western and north-central Africa extends from Senegal to Djibouti.
