African Development Bank President Dr Akinwumi A. Adesina has highlighted the importance of stopping desertification in Africa’s Sahel and turning the region green.
Adesina spoke at a high-level side event, on the Great Green Wall initiative during the ongoing UN global climate conference, COP26, in Glasgow, Scotland. The event was co-hosted by His Royal Highness Prince of Wales, French President Emmanuel Macron and Mauritanian President Ould Ghazaouni.
The African Development Bank is a major partner in this bold project, which involves building an 8,000 km long and 15 km wide swathe of trees, grasslands, vegetation and plants across the Sahel. It will restore degraded land and help inhabitants of the Sahel produce food, create jobs and promote peace. Yesterday’s gathering focused on marshalling efforts to scale up implementation of the project as a critical nature-based solution to climate change in Africa.