Africa’s Great Green Wall can stop African migration
Africa’s Great Green Wall is slowly changing the face of the continent. In Ethiopia, indigenous trees and shrubs and commercial forests cover 15 million hectares. Nigerians have planted a further 5 million hectares. In Sudan, 2,000 hectares are helping the country to push back against desertification.
It has created jobs for migrants trapped in refugee camps, improved food security for 20 million Africans and helped African farmers implement climate-resistant farming techniques. For the women of Koyli Alfa in central Senegal, it provides a financial safety net.
With funding from the World Bank, the women of Koyli Alfa began planting lettuce, watermelon and eggplant. Almost 300 women, in groups of 30, work the patch of green at the edge of a rapidly expanding dust bowl. All the women contribute about R4 a week to the equivalent of a stokvel that is available to whomever needs it.
CIFOR