South African Development Community Joins 'Great Green Wall' Efforts
- csrice8
- Aug 29, 2016
- 1 min read
At the end of the five-day African Drought Conference, Namibia's Environment and Tourism Minister, Pohamba Shifeta declared that Southern Africa join the Great Green Wall (GGW) initiative, a land greening exercise put in place in Saharan Africa and the Sahel area.
"We are excited about the GGW initiative, we believe it is a game changer in enhancing food security and resilience to drought and combating land degradation," Namibian Minister Shifeta said.
"It is truly a flagship programme and an example of what we can achieve through improved Pan-African cooperation and partnership." Shifeta noted that the GGW initiative could be adapted for the South African Development Community (SADC), which has 15 member states, among them Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi. The SADC countries declared a regional emergency two months ago due to the drought, appealing for US$2.89 billion to mitigate the drought effects.
gordontour