US$500m Great Green Wall push targets 270,000 hectares across nine African countries

Nairobi, Kenya witnessed the launch of a new regional investment program aimed at restoring 270,000 hectares of degraded land and improving the livelihoods of five million people across nine Great Green Wall countries. Backed by a US$78 million Global Environment Facility grant, the initiative seeks to expand land restoration in some of Africa's most climate-vulnerable regions, while enhancing agricultural, pastoral, and ecological systems.

The programme, which boasts total resources surpassing US$500 million, includes co-financing and aims to accelerate restoration efforts through a common regional framework.

The Sahel region, experiencing warming at nearly 1.5 times the global average, suffers from significant land degradation, with roughly two-thirds of its productive land affected. Environmental degradation, food insecurity, and conflict have contributed to the displacement of over four million people in the area. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) will lead eight of the programme's ten projects, while the West African Development Bank (BOAD) will handle the remaining two.

UNEP's Director, Susan Gardner, emphasized that the initiative provides the necessary financial resources and a shared framework for the nine participating countries to collaborate on planning, monitoring, and learning from their restoration efforts. The program's resources will be supplemented by funding from the Green Climate Fund, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and bilateral partners.

Of the total restoration targets, Mali will lead with 150,000 hectares of regeneration across three regions, while Niger will restore 55,000 hectares of farmland, woodland, and grazing land. Ethiopia will focus on regenerating 22,000 hectares of degraded land and improving the management of 40,000 hectares of natural forest. In The Gambia, wetland and forest corridor restoration will benefit nearly 800,000 people, with a focus on women-led enterprises.

Chad and Burkina Faso will concentrate on drought-resilient land management for communities grappling with desertification effects.

Almoustapha Garba, Executive Secretary of the Pan-African Agency of the Great Green Wall, highlighted the strength of the Great Green Wall in its countries' leadership. He stressed that by connecting national priorities through a shared regional framework, the new programme will help countries accelerate restoration, share knowledge, and scale up locally tailored solutions.