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CIFOR, SNV announce strategic partnership

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CIFOR, SNV announce strategic partnership

The Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and the Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV) on Friday announced a new partnership to collaborate on knowledge, sharing, technical expertise and engagement on some key areas such as sustainable supply of agricultural commodities, business models and services provision to smallholders, innovations in financing mechanisms to provide affordable credit to smallholders, investment models that help build alternative livelihoods for smallholders, and forest management and restoration that account for the needs of smallholders.

CIFOR’s Director-General, Peter Holmgren
CIFOR’s Director-General, Peter Holmgren

The partnership was announced at the 2016 Asia-Pacific Rainforest Summit (APRS) in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam. It was formalised in June 2016 under a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by SNV’s Chief Executive Officer, Allert van den Ham, and CIFOR’s Director-General, Peter Holmgren.

With a common outlook of landscape-based strategies associated with sustainable agricultural supply and improved smallholders’ livelihoods, which deliver improved benefits for climate change adaptation and mitigation and economic development, CIFOR and SNV have agreed to build on each other’s strengths to further their respective missions.

The partnership and coordination are being led by Richard McNally, SNV Global Coordinator for Climate Change, and Pablo Pacheco, CIFOR Principal Scientist and Team Leader for Value Chains, Finance and Investments.

“SNV is very excited to become a strategic partner with CIFOR. This will bring more research and scientific rigor into our more complex programs exploring the relationships between smallholder agriculture, forest protection and landscape management,” McNally said.

“CIFOR sees significant value in this partnership as part of our efforts to link our research to actions in the ground that work for forests, economic development and rural livelihoods. SNV has developed an important capacity that will contribute to link our research to practice in ways that are meaningful to different local realities,” Pacheco said.

SNV is a not-for-profit development organization with a focus on poverty alleviation and sustainable development. CIFOR is a non-profit, scientific facility that conducts research on the most pressing challenges of forest and landscape management. Both have a long-term presence across Asia, Africa and Latin America.

CIFOR is a non-profit, global facility dedicated to advancing human well-being, environmental conservation and equity.

Government inaugurates Governing Council, BoT for Ogoniland clean-up

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Government inaugurates Governing Council, BoT for Ogoniland clean-up

To ensure full implementation of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report on Ogoniland, President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday in Abuja, the Nigerian federal capital city, inaugurated the Governing Council and the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Trust Fund for the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP).

President Buhari and Federal Executive Council members during the inauguration of the Governing Council for Ogoniland clean up at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Thursday
President Buhari and Federal Executive Council members during the inauguration of the Governing Council for Ogoniland clean up at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Thursday

Buhari, while speaking at a brief ceremony in the Presidential Villa, noted that the project, which will take two decades to implement, is starting five years after the UNEP report.

The next five years, he said, would address emergency response measures and remediation, while the subsequent years would aim to restore the ecosystems in the Niger Delta.

He charged the communities to ensure security for the project and prevent recontamination of Ogoniland when completed.

He said: “Today marks another milestone in the commitment that this administration has made in ensuring the implementation of the UNEP Report on Ogoniland and other impacted sites.

“This is a very important endeavour that has direct impact on the lives and livelihoods of our brothers and sisters whose environments have been severely degraded by years of unchecked pollution from oil exploration activities.

“It is exactly five years today, on the 4th of August 2011, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) submitted an extensive Report on its environmental assessment of Ogoniland.  That report, which was commissioned by the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, did not only document the problems that existed, but also contained recommendations on how they can be addressed, both in the short term and in the long term.

“Five years on, the project is yet to properly take off.  It would appear to have experienced a series of false starts, while the local communities continue to suffer from the problem, which has existed long before the Report.  This all adds to the picture described in the UNEP Report as “a landscape characterised by a lack of trust, paralysis and blame.”

Thanking the Council and BoT for accepting to serve on the project, he said since the flag-off of the project two months ago, considerable effort had been expended to create a robust mechanism for implementing the project in the long term.

According to him, the Governing Council and Board of Trustees jointly form an essential part of the governance framework.

“The governance framework we lay today, following extensive consultations, will form the bedrock for sustainability for years to come,” the President added.

Courtesy: The Nation

Ogoniland clean-up: Activists ask government to declare state of emergency

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Ogoniland clean-up: Activists ask government to declare state of emergency

Despite the announcement of the supposed take-off of the Ogoniland clean-up exercise and a $10 million take-off grant in 2015, the institutional framework is still not in place to give hope to the Ogoni people that anything tangibe will come out of the process.

Bayelsa State Commissioner for Environment, Iniruo Willis (standing), Executive Director of ERA/FoEN, Dr Godwin Ojo (sitting by Willis' right), and some other participants at the event
Bayelsa State Commissioner for Environment, Iniruo Willis (standing), Executive Director of ERA/FoEN, Dr Godwin Ojo (sitting by Willis’ right), and some other participants at the event

This was the submission of Dr Godwin Ojo, executive director of the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth (ERA/FoEN) on Thursday (04 August, 2016) in Port Harcourt, Rivers State in an address at an Advocacy Meeting on Monitoring Agenda for the Implementation of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Report on Clean-up of Ogoniland.

Themed: “Monitoring Agenda for the Implementation of the UNEP report cleanup of Ogoniland”, the daylong forum discussed new developments on the implementation of the report, including the announcement and inauguration of a 13-member Governing Council and Board of Trustees to oversee the take-off of the actual clean-up exercise by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.

The participants declared that a state of emergency should be declared in Ogoniland and the entire Niger Delta in view of the mammoth environmental challenges inflicted on the region.

Additionally, they want the clean-up of Ogoniland to commence immediately without further delay, even as they underlined the need for a legal framework and supportive Act for the implementation of the UNEP report. The exercise, they noted, should include health audit of the people in view of declining life expectancy among the people of the region.

Ojo lamented that, five years after the release of the UNEP Assessment report, Ogoniland still remains an emblem of pollution and ecocide in the Niger Delta region.

Indeed, the gathering, which comprised representatives of Niger Delta communities, civil soceity, lawyers, community campaigners, academia and the media, observed that though government has shown a positive attitude towards implementing the UNEP report by inaugurating a Governing Council and Board of Trustees, the absence of a gazette or law to ensure the process is institutionalised and sustained beyond the Buhari administration is not in place.

According to them, there is still legitimate outrage among Ogoni on the inclusion of the same polluting oil companies in the Governing Council and Board of Trustees of the UNEP report implementation. They describe Shell sitting on the Governing Council and steering Board set up by the government to oversee the clean-up as an anomaly.

Shell, the participants allege, is orchestrating a strategy of hijacking the clean-up process in its attempts to evade justice and undermining the clean-up process.

“Since the publicised approval of the $10 million take-off grant which is a paltry sum for start-up compared to the UNEP recommended $1 billion for clean-up of Ogoniland made by President Buhari in August 2015, there has been no information in the public on how the fund will be expended, or how oil companies are to fund the clean-up exercise,” the forum declared, stressing that there is still no work plan or timelines for deliverables in the UNEP report implementation process.

They observed that civil society representation in the composition of the Governing Council and Board of Trustees in the UNEP report implementation is virtually nil and would make monitoring of implementation near absent.

Despite the current administration mantra of diversification from a monoculture economy solely reliant on fossil fuels, it still relies heavily on fossil fuel to the detriment of proven alternatives that are clean and sustainable.

The gathering further recommended thus:

  • Release of the gazette of the UNEP report implementation to ensure sustainability beyond the present administration since the clean-up will take 30 years to complete from the take-off date of commencement
  • Shell’s removal from the Governing Council of the UNEP clean-up exercise to ensure no conflict of interest in the work of the Governing Council and Board of Trustees
  • Need for unity among the Ogoni people to ensure the process of clean-up of Ogoniland is not stalled
  • The clean-up of Ogoniland should be the entry point of the clean-up of the entire Niger Delta region.
  • Adequate awareness creation on the clean-up process to address the concerns of the Ogoni and the generality of Nigerians interested in ensuring the current processes work
  • Adequate civil society representation in the Governing Council and BOT of the implementing committee
  • An independent monitoring system be set up with representatives of the Ogoni and civil society playing prominent and active roles
  • Nigerian government should wean itself of fossil fuels dependency and halt all forms of pollution by the oil industry in the Niger Delta by enforcing the deadline for the cessation of gas flaring and exploring safe renewables.

Dominican Republic charts course to renewable future

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Dominican Republic charts course to renewable future

Creating a sustainable future is the responsibility of all countries, and that includes allocating a greater share of the world’s energy mix to renewables. A new report by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), Renewable Energy Prospects: Dominican Republic, finds the Dominican Republic could by 2030 increase its share of modern renewable energy from 9% to 27%, and its share of renewable electricity generation from 12 to 44%, by adopting a series of recommendations.

Location of renewable power generation capacity in 2030 under REmap
Location of renewable power generation capacity in 2030 under REmap

Situated on the tropical island of Hispaniola, in the heart of Caribbean, the Dominican Republic’s shining sun and gentle winds, provides its 10 million inhabitants with rich opportunities for renewable energy generation.

The country’s power sector presents both a challenge and a great opportunity. Last year, the Dominican Republic pledged to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions 25% by 2030, compared to 2010 levels – an ambitious target that it hopes to achieve in part by increasing the power sector’s share of renewable energy to 25% by 2025. However, the government’s current policies are not enough. Despite tax incentives, feed-in tariffs, and a rural electrification programme, the country is only on track to a 21% renewable energy mix by that year.

“The Dominican Republic can become one of the leading countries in the Caribbean region for renewable energy deployment,” said Dolf Gielen, Director of IRENA’s Innovation and Technology Centre. “If leaders act now to implement more renewables, the country can reduce air pollution, enhance energy security, boost the economy, and play a leading role in the global fight against climate change.”

Dolf Gielen, Director of IRENA’s Innovation and Technology Centre
Dolf Gielen, Director of IRENA’s Innovation and Technology Centre

Spending and then saving

By annually investing $566 million into renewable energy from now to 2030, the country could save itself a fortune. IRENA estimates that up to $5.4 billion could be saved each year until 2030 – a combination of about $1.2 billion in energy system savings, and $1.1-4.3 billion in savings from reduced externalities such as greenhouse gas emissions and air pollutants from traditional energy sources.

In the report, IRENA recommends the Dominican Republic sets clear and consistent renewable energy targets, designs appropriate incentives and market mechanisms, and conducts transmission planning and grid expansion work. In particular, on-shore wind power and solar photovoltaics are areas of potential growth, and the report recommends the construction of 45 wind farms, and the expansion of both on-grid and off-grid solar.

“Many island nations face similar challenges in the energy sector, including energy security and energy access,” said Gielen. “The measures outlined in this report can thus be helpful far beyond the Dominican Republic.” The report is the latest addition to IRENA’s REmap programme – an effort to create a renewable energy roadmap that shows how to realistically double the global share of renewable energy share by 2030. Covering 40 countries that represent 80% of global energy use, REmap collaborates with country experts and aggregates the results to create a global picture on the state of renewable energy.

Ethiopia, South Korea collaborate on forestry, climate change

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Ethiopia, South Korea collaborate on forestry, climate change

With the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) through the UN-REDD Programme, UNDP Seoul Policy Centre and the UNDP Country Office in Ethiopia, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change embarked on a high level visit to Republic of Korea (1st to 9th March 2016) to share experience and design roadmap for the forest sector development program that can serve as a master plan for the coming 10 years. The visit created an opportunity to share knowledge and design a joint cooperation engagement framework between the two countries.

The collaboration hopes to contribute to the implementation of sustainable forest management in both nations as well as the implementation of the CRGE strategy and the National REDD+ strategy in Ethiopia
The collaboration hopes to contribute to the implementation of sustainable forest management in both nations as well as the implementation of the CRGE strategy and the National REDD+ strategy in Ethiopia

Ethiopia and Korea signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on June 26, 2016 extending over a period of five years. The MOU highlights defined areas of cooperation whereby South Korea commits to supporting Ethiopia in building the country’s institutional capacity in the forestry sector through:

  1. technical cooperation, training, research and technological support that will contribute to the implementation of the country’s overarching Climate Resilient Green Economy (CRGE) strategy;
  2. facilitation of exchanges of best practices and knowledge between the two countries for realising their common vision of green growth through large scale reforestation and sustainable forest management;
  3. designing a workable results-based finance systems and payments systems for emissions reduction under the CRGE/REDD+ strategy;
  4. supporting efforts in installing forest products standardisation and urban forestry through the introduction of technologies and urban forest management systems;
  5. encouraging investment promotion, and organisation of investor roundtables; and,
  6. supporting Ethiopia in their efforts to build the technical and technological capacity of the country to undertake spatial planning including land use planning.

The MOU is designed to provide a framework of cooperation and facilitate collaboration between Ethiopia and Korea, on climate change and forestry and hopes to contribute to the implementation of sustainable forest management in Korea and Ethiopia as well as the implementation of the CRGE strategy and the National REDD+ strategy in Ethiopia.

A fundamental aspect of the engagement between Ethiopia and Korea is to ensure appropriate mechanisms of cooperation are set-up especially related to approaches to capacity building, collecting, documenting and sharing experience at the policy and advocacy levels.

Ethiopia envisions building a climate resilient green economy through identified key economic sectors, including forestry that will play crucial roles in sustainable development. This seeks to put Ethiopia on the path of environmentally sustainable economic development while offsetting the potential impact of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with the country’s ambitious growth plans by 2030.

The country considers REDD+, which is an important component of the CRGE strategy, as an opportunity and viable source of sustainable finance for investment in forest management, forest conservation, and forest restoration to enhance multiple benefits of forests. The national REDD+ programme is an integral part of the overall green economy strategy.

The UN-REDD Programme has provided targeted supported to the government of Ethiopia in order to enhance the national REDD+ readiness process, by strengthening capacities of national and regional authorities to understand the multiple values of forests, and to design a model for decentralised REDD+ under the UNFCCC Warsaw Framework including through policy advisory support and investment programming.

UNEP optimistic over Ogoniland clean-up

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UNEP optimistic over Ogoniland clean-up

A clean environment is on the horizon for the people of Ogoniland as government, communities and oil industry commit to implementing UN Environment report recommendations

Erik Solheim, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
Erik Solheim, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

On the fifth anniversary of the launch of UN Environment’s Ogoniland Assessment, the UN expressed optimism over recent developments towards an environmental clean-up.

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) boss Erik Solheim said, “I am impressed by the developments we’ve seen towards an environmental clean-up in Ogoniland. During my recent visit there I could sense the momentum – and expectations – of the Ogoni people to once again have their home clean, healthy and safe. The inauguration of the clean-up project was undoubtedly a historic moment for the region.

“I would like to congratulate Minister Amina Mohammed for her outstanding leadership on this issue and assure the Nigerian Government that UN Environment and the UN system remain available to support the clean-up project.”

On 2 June, the Federal Government of Nigeria set in motion a $1 billion clean-up and restoration programme of the Ogoniland region in the Niger Delta. Financial and legislative frameworks will now be put in place to enable the implementation of UNEP’s recommendations.

The recommendations stem from UNEP’s Environmental Assessment of Ogoniland, requested by the Federal Government of Nigeria and launched on 4 August 2011. Conducted over the course of two years, it examined the environmental impact of oil industry operations in the area since the late 1950s. The report found that oil contamination in Ogoniland is extensive and having a grave impact on the environment. In a number of locations public health was severely threatened by contaminated drinking water and carcinogens. Furthermore, the report showed that pollution had penetrated further and deeper than previously thought.

The environmental remediation is likely to be the world’s largest terrestrial clean-up ever seen. With all parties working together, the results will be transformative: ecosystems can recover, livelihoods can be restored, and everyday life will be much improved.

Experts estimate that it could take up to 25 years before ecosystems are re-established. Yet the environmental clean-up of Ogoniland now has the strong support of all stakeholders to move ahead.

How Akwa Ibom is tackling climate change – Emmanuel

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How Akwa Ibom is tackling climate change – Emmanuel

Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Udom Emmanuel, has said that, in responding to the challenges of climate change, the state has adopted several measures aimed at not only curbing the phenomenon’s biophysical and socio-economic consequences, but also ensuring that it does not negate some of its developmental programmes.

Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State
Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State

Emmanuel, who spoke during the opening of the state’s maiden Climate Change and Clean Energy Summit/Expo that held recently in Uyo, the capital city, lamented that Akwa Ibom, as a coastal state, is very vulnerable to the negative impacts of climate change. According to him, climate change is real and is already affecting various sectors of the state economy with serious consequences.

“Many coastal and riverine communities in the state are already relocating due to the rise in sea levels leading to excessive flooding while others have been submerged,” he disclosed, adding that government recognises the fact that, unless a good response strategy is developed and judiciously implemented, climate change may negate some of its developmental efforts.

To coordinate the activities aimed at tackling the negative impacts of phenomenon, he stated that government has set up a Multi-Sectorial Technical Committee on Climate Change, even as it has upgraded the Climate Change Unit at the Ministry of Environment and Mineral Resources to a full-fledged Division and recruited professionals to man and run the Division. He added that the current review of the State’s Environmental Management Law has a section on Climate Change Mitigation.

According to him, government has likewise undertaken measures to protect, preserve and prepare the environment for the planned industrial revolution – a venture he described as fairly successful.

His words: “This is made possible through the successful implementation of various environment-friendly policies in the state. For instance, with the reintroduction of the monthly sanitation and proper waste management system, the state has recorded remarkable improvements in environmental sanitation.”

Shedding some light on the state’s industrialisation ambition, he said: “We have set in motion a massive mechanics and drive to achieve this through the constitution of key Technical Committees – Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) as well as Agriculture and Food Sufficiency as well as that of the realisation of the Ibom Deep Seaport, signing of MOUs, ground-breaking ceremonies – all these efforts are aimed at deepening our economic base and weaning us off of our over dependence on oil.

“Some of these projects include the Ibom Industrial City which will house the deepest seaport in Nigeria (the Ibom Deep Seaport), an Automobile Assembly Plant, LED factory to produce low energy bulbs, metering plant in Onna, the coconut refinery to be located in Ikot Abasi, Mkpat-Enin Eastern Obolo axis and numerous other large-scale industries that are in the works.”

He stressed that the summit’s objective is to address issues that will support the state’s transition to a low carbon and climate resilient economy, while exploring the abundant renewal energy resources and innovative technologies that would enable it contribute to the goal of providing universal access to energy in Africa by the year 2025.

“I am aware that Nigeria’s Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) blueprint submitted as part of the negotiations leading to Paris Agreement aligns with the theme of this summit. Therefore, as a major oil producing state, we desire to work with the Federal Government and other stakeholders in achieving the INDC targets, especially on ending gas flaring by 2030 and increasing energy efficiency.

“In our effort to turn waste to wealth, this administration has focused on recycling of waste as an alternative means of removing useful products from the huge wastes generated in the state.  This will help in achieving our desired goal of providing employment and generating income for the citizenry,” Governor Emmanuel declared.

How boreholes provided lifeline to Malawian community

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How boreholes provided lifeline to Malawian community

Mary Msampha used to walk 10 kilometres to and from her house searching for water in Lipiri, Dowa District, Central Region Malawi.

Mary Msampha can now afford to draw water close to her home
Mary Msampha can now afford to draw water close to her home

The area is within the control of Traditional Authority (T/A) Kayembe and shares boundary with T/A Chakhaza, another popular chief in the district.

“Our children suffered a lot. Even cooking food was a challenge without water. Secondly, as you know that when you have infants or young children you have to wash their nappies, this was another setback,” says Msampha.

Most of her time was spent on searching for water. Little time was spent on taking care of her family and practicing farming, according to Msampha.

“We sometimes had no option but to travel to a distant place called Kawande to draw water,” recalls Msampha, adding that, like other women, they were subjected to long queues and sleepless night as their efforts to draw water.

People in Lipiri, Dowa are both great commercial and subsistence farmers of beans, cotton, maize, groundnuts, soya sorghum and other crops.

Dowa is an agricultural district which focuses on cotton and groundnut farming, and the main food crops produced in the district are maize, sweet potatoes and pulses.

Even a visit to the area showed that the area has no enough portable water. Perennial rivers from where people can fetch water for home use and dambo farming are also few, prompting such challenges women encounter.

Msampha adds that government funded community-based care centres including those of various organisations such as World Vision in Lipiri were affected.

“It was difficult to run a Community Based Care Centre (CBCC) without water because apart from teaching children every operation depends on water. For you to prepare porridge, wash their clothes, one needs water. It was a problem running CBCCs then,” explains Msampha, who also teaches at Lipiri CBCC.

Today, such calamities have become history. The area has more holes drilled by World Vision. Children and community members, who also used to suffer from waterborne diseases, can now afford a healthier life.

Water is also available in most CBCCs. “We now have the audacity to fetch water from boreholes World Vision drilled in the area. We no longer complain because we even have gardens where we grow vegetables to supplement the diet,” says another mother identified as Naphiri.

World Vision Central Region coordinator Liddah Mtimuni Manyozo says that, currently, the organisation has intensified the drilling of 43 holes in Lipiri Area Programme.

“To this day 37 holes have been drilled with two dry holes in Lipiri, which has a population of 22, 382. On average,” said Manyozo.

The initiative is meant to deal with water challenges children and others face in homes, schools and habitable place. In fact, in other areas World Vision is drilling solar power driven boreholes.

By George Mhango

Images: People at the heart of land restoration

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Images: People at the heart of land restoration

Land restoration in northern Niger  in West Africa is making degraded areas productive again, providing economic opportunities in a region where migration has become a tradition.

Now, under Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations’ (FAO) Action Against Desertification programme, these efforts are being expanded to six African countries.

According to the FAO, this development shows that land degradation around the Sahara is not yet irreversible.

Photos: © FAO/Giulio Napolitano

Desertification and land degradation are very serious challenges. They lead to hunger and poverty
Desertification and land degradation are very serious challenges. They lead to hunger and poverty.
Over the next decade, 50 million people may be displaced – the result of climate change and the depletion of natural resources.
Over the next decade, 50 million people may be displaced – the result of climate change and the depletion of natural resources.
But recent successes show that land degradation is not yet irreversible.
But recent successes show that land degradation is not yet irreversible.
The Great Green Wall initiative can be a game-changer for Africa – boosting food security, creating jobs and helping people adapt to climate change.
The Great Green Wall initiative can be a game-changer for Africa – boosting food security, creating jobs and helping people adapt to climate change.
The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization has joined the initiative and is engaged in land restoration across the Sahel.
The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation has joined the initiative and is engaged in land restoration across the Sahel.
People are at the heart of FAO’s Action Against Desertification programme.
People are at the heart of FAO’s Action Against Desertification programme.
Restoration efforts focus on supporting livelihoods, which mainly depend on farming and livestock.
Restoration efforts focus on supporting livelihoods, which mainly depend on farming and livestock.
Plants are essential for rural communities – trees, shrubs and grasses provide everything, from food to fodder and from medicine to construction material.
Plants are essential for rural communities – trees, shrubs and grasses provide everything, from food to fodder and from medicine to construction material.
Plants also bring economic opportunities. Fodder grass sells wells on the market, for example.
Plants also bring economic opportunities. Fodder grass sells wells on the market, for example.

More investment crucial to upscale Great Green Wall initiative

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More investment crucial to upscale Great Green Wall initiative

During a high-level event on the Great Green Wall initiative, leaders of African countries called for increased investment in combatting desertification and land degradation to improve the lives of the people of Africa’s drylands.

Jose Graziano da Silva, Director General of the FAO
Jose Graziano da Silva, Director General of the FAO

“The Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) is committed to scaling up support to the Great Green Wall initiative,” said José Graziano Da Silva, Director-General of FAO. “It offers hope for prosperity and well-being to the local communities at the heart of our efforts.”

Brah Mahamat, Minister for Environment, Water & Fisheries from Chad, speaking on behalf of the African Union that leads the initiative, emphasised the epic ambitions of Africa’s flagship rural development programme. “The Great Green Wall is one of the most audacious efforts in human history,” he said.

Yet the challenges of climate change and land degradation are equally formidable, ministers and senior representatives from Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal and Sudan noted. Great Green Wall countries are faced with conflict, migration, poverty and hunger.

“There is light at the end of the tunnel,” said Amina Mohammed, Nigerian Minister of Environment, who lauded the merits of the initiative. “In spite of all odds, it is an initiative of solidarity, it is about a family of countries across the Sahel and the Sahara that are taking collective responsibility.”

To bolster its support to the initiative, FAO builds on recommendations of the recent International Great Green Wall Conference in Dakar and a roadmap for the upcoming Climate Change Conference in Marrakech, said René Castro, FAO’s Assistant Director-General for Forestry.

But the task ahead is daunting, he warned. To rehabilitate 10 per cent of the total area around the Sahara Desert affected by desertification, estimated at 600 million hectares, would require an investment of about $143 billion.

“We need to think big and see big,” said FAO’s Deputy Director-General Maria Helena Semedo in her closing remarks. “It’s time to scale-up.”

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