Africa’s Sahara Desert is growing.
In 2018 it was found that the Sahara, the biggest desert in the world after Antarctica and the Arctic, had increased in size by 10 per cent over the last century. This expansion is due to a combination of man-made climate change and natural climate cycles, with most of the change happening along the northern and southern edges of the desert.
Desertification is a major problem around the world, not least in the Sahel region (which runs from the southern belt of the Sahara to the Sudanian savanna below) where some of the world’s poorest communities reside. Despite the Global North being the most significant contributors to greenhouse gas emissions and global warming, it is people like those living in the Sahel who are paying the price.
The Sahel community are on the frontlines of the climate crisis, dealing with persistent droughts, famines, and rapidly depleting natural resources on an ongoing basis. As a result, millions of people across the region, from Senegal to Djibouti, are being left to handle the severe repercussions of the climate emergency without much help.
This is where the Great Green Wall comes in, a project that could save an entire region from ecological collapse.
What is the great green wall?
An entirely African-led initiative, the Great Green Wall is an ambitious project looking to grow an 8,000km natural wonder across the full width of Africa. Since 2007, millions of trees have been planted across the southern edge of the Sahara desert – with millions more to go.
It was initially intended to be just a line of trees, stretching east to west, to help tackle the Sahara’s expansion down south. However the project, funded by the African Union, quickly evolved into a tapestry of different environmental interventions, using a range of ecological tools to construct a belt of greenery across the continent. Read more…
