Transcript 8th Ordinary Summit of the Heads of State and Government

Copyrights© 2004 AU
GREAT GREEN WALL FOR THE SAHARA
AND SAHEL INITIATIVE
The Great Green Wall for the Sahara and Sahel
A General Overview
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
May 5, 2009
By
African Union Commission
African Union Commission
July 17, 2015
Copyrights© 2004 AU
Brief History Of Green Belts / Walls in Africa

The idea of initiating a green belt was born well before
the United Nations conference on combating
desertification (Nairobi, 1977). Already there were
green belt projects and similar activities in Africa for
decades, for example:
– Biological fixation of coastal dunes in Morocco
(1915)
– The Green belt project in Niamey (1965)
– The Green barrier project in Algeria (1971)
– The Green belt project in Nouakchott (1975)
– The ‘Green Belt for Nigeria’
African Union Commission
July 17, 2015
Why the renewed focus on Great
Green Wall for the Sahara Initiative
(GGWSSI)?
Copyrights© 2004 AU

Rio family of Conventions.
–
–
–





Climate change
Desertification
Biodiversity
Land tenure and demographic changes
Poverty alleviation
Increased deforestation
Food insecurity
MDG goals
African Union Commission
July 17, 2015
Copyrights© 2004 AU
Overview of GGWSSI

In July 2005, President Olusegun Obasanjo of
the Federal Republic of Nigeria, proposed the
establishment of a “Green Wall for the Sahara
Initiative” at the Fifth Ordinary Summit of the
African Union (AU).

The Heads of State supported it and requested
the Chairperson of the African Union
Commission to facilitate the elaboration of a
concept paper.
African Union Commission
July 17, 2015
Copyrights© 2004 AU
Overview of GGWSSI

A concept paper was subsequently developed
and launched during the Food Security Summit
held in Abuja, Nigeria on 7th December 2006.
The Summit in January 2007 adopted a
Declaration and Decision on it, urging the
Commission to proceed with facilitating the
implementation of the concept, and

A Plan of Action to adopted by AU Summit in
January 2009.
African Union Commission
July 17, 2015
Copyrights© 2004 AU
Scope
Sahara-Sahel Countries:
Algeria; Burkina Faso; Cape verde; Chad;
Djibouti; Egypt; Ethiopia; Erithrea; Guinea
Bissau; Libya; Mali; Mauritania; Niger; Nigeria;
Saharawi Arab Republic; Senegal; Somalia;
Sudan; The Gambia; and Tunisia.

African Union Commission
July 17, 2015
Copyrights© 2004 AU
Goals and Objectives








Bringing together relevant actors within a framework to
address desertification and environmental degradation
through inter-related and coordinated set of activities;
To improve the livelihoods of the inhabitants of the
Sahel-Sahara zones
Enhancing environmental sustainability
Controlling land degradation;
Promoting integrated natural resources management;
Arresting the advance of the Sahara Desert;
Conserving biological diversity; and
Contributing to Poverty Reduction
African Union Commission
July 17, 2015
Copyrights© 2004 AU
Expected Outputs
In the short-term, the Initiative could:
 Enhance policy harmonization;
 Create awareness and thus get the wider
public involved in a sustainable manner;
 Create alternative livelihood systems for the
populations affected and create wealth
African Union Commission
July 17, 2015
Copyrights© 2004 AU
Expected Outputs cont’d
In the long-term, it could:
 Arrest soil degradation;
 Slow the advance of the desert frontier;
 Reduce poverty amongst the participating
populations;
 Ameliorate climatic conditions within the Wall;
 Contribute to climate change adaptation and
mitigation;
 Conserve biodiversity;
 Produce a publication on lessons learnt.
 Increase land productivity and food production
African Union Commission
July 17, 2015
Copyrights© 2004 AU
Implementation Modalities and
Approaches
The Initiative will have several dimensions which are
complementary and mutually reinforcing.
 Enhancement of existing knowledge, and capacity.
 Resource mapping (biodiversity, soil and water)
 An institutional survey to identify the various institutions
with various capabilities to work on the different
dimensions/aspects of the project
 Lessons learned from previous projects would be
incorporated in the initiative.
 Initiative to be mainstreamed in countries national
development plan / strategies (e.g. in the PRSP
documents).
African Union Commission
July 17, 2015
Copyrights© 2004 AU
Implementation Modalities and
Approaches (contd.)
 Except where Transboundary issues are
concerned, the initiative would be
implemented at the level of individual
countries.
– This
therefore
places
special
importance on indigenous knowledge,
the development of local capacity and
the promotion of synergistic actions of
local
bilateral,
multilateral
interventions.
African Union Commission
July 17, 2015
Copyrights© 2004 AU
Implementation Modalities and
Approaches (contd.)

Initiative would be linked to multilateral and
bilateral agencies:
–
–
–
–
ECOWAS Environmental Programme under the
purview of the Permanent Inter-State Committee for
the Control of Drought in the Sahel (CILSS).
Environment Initiative of NEPAD The United
Nations conventions; UNCCD, UNFCC and CBD.
TerrAfrica Sustainable Land Management
Africa-EU strategic partnership on Climate Change
African Union Commission
July 17, 2015
Copyrights© 2004 AU
Institutional Arrangements




Steering Committee of Ministers
Technical Committee of MS Experts
National Committees
Sectoral institutions
Local Committees
Coordination by AUC, CEN-SAD Secretariat
and Senegal
African Union Commission
July 17, 2015
Copyrights© 2004 AU
Funding Arrangements



National budgetary provisions
Dedicated Trust Fund
Multilateral and bilateral assistance
African Union Commission
July 17, 2015
Copyrights© 2004 AU
Implementation Challenges







Sheer size of the area to be managed, compounded by
the weak institutional frameworks at both regional and
national levels.
Transhumance activities of livestock herders as they
may interfere with reforestation and
rehabilitation/development activities in the rangelands.
Land tenure systems (which lands to be planted? Who
owns what land?).
Management of access to services and products
accruing from the Initiative.
Need for extensive investment to build local capacities.
Climate change and variability (droughts and flood).
Resource mobilization.
African Union Commission
July 17, 2015
Copyrights© 2004 AU
Overcoming/minimising the challenges
cont’d





Public/private partnership
Phase-wise implementation,
Joint development and submission of regional
programme proposals for resource mobilisation
Mainstream the roles of females and the
youths in the programme implementation
Integrate the Great Green Wall activities in the
national development planning processes e.g.
the PRSPs
African Union Commission
July 17, 2015
Copyrights© 2004 AU
Way forward






Review of the past green belt projects
Identify and implement procedures for transferring
existing green belts to the local communities.
Continue to develop local capacities for effective
management.
Consolidating and scaling-up existing green belts
where feasible.
Mainstream the gender dimension into the Initiative.
Integrated approach - rangeland component, soil &
water management and rural development.
African Union Commission
July 17, 2015
Copyrights© 2004 AU
Way forward (contd.)

Regional cooperation and experiencesharing networks focusing on:
–
–
–
Consultations on approaches and modalities
for implementing the national components.
Joint global evaluation of achievements in
the last decades, the results of which should
be fed into the development of new technical
and economic packages of implementation.
Training and experience-sharing including
field training which should capitalise on the
countries positive results.
African Union Commission
July 17, 2015
Copyrights© 2004 AU
GGWSSI- a shared Responsibility
Thank you!
African Union Commission
July 17, 2015