The Great Wall of Africa

Here’s something you can hit back with when you next find yourself at the same table as an Afro-pessimist: have you ever heard of the Great Green Wall? It’s a massive project with the goal to plant a 16km-wide, 8 000km-long strip of indigenous trees across the width of Africa in the semi-arid region between the Sahara Desert to the north and the belt of humid savannah to the south. The full name is the Great Green Wall of the Sahara and Sahel Initiative, an African Union project involving more than 20 countries.

Climate change will hit the Sahel harder than any other region on earth. Drought, famine, conflict over diminishing natural resources and a mass exodus to Europe will likely follow.

But communities from Senegal in the west to Djibouti in the east are fighting back against this environmental disaster with the Great Green Wall. Senegal, for example, has already planted 12 million drought-resistant trees. The good news is that a number of species not seen in this area for the past 50 years are now reappearing, including antelope, rabbits and birds.

Eventually, the Great Green Wall will become the largest living structure on earth. To put its scale in perspective: the project began in 2007 and today, 11 years later, it is 15% complete. Many years of work lie ahead, but the world – and Africa in particular – will be all the better for it. greatgreenwall.org