Flip Side: Africa's Green Wall — A pipe dream after all? - video Dailymotion

DW (English)

Billions of dollars have been poured into Africa Green Belt Project, but only 30% of the target has been reached.

Transcript

00:00Africa's Great Green Wall.

00:02It is supposed to be a beacon of hope, standing as the largest living structure on our planet,

00:08spanning 8,000 kilometers across Africa.

00:12It holds the promise of a new era, one of sustainability and economic growth.

00:17The idea?

00:18To stop the spread of the desert, restore 100 million hectares of infertile land, bind

00:24250 million tons of carbon and create 10 million green jobs by 2030.

00:31However, Africa's Great Green Wall is not without its challenges.

00:35It is running dry on crucial resources, money, engagement and time.

00:41Welcome to the flip side.

00:43Seventeen years since its implementation in 2007, only 30% of the project has been completed.

00:50The project was estimated to require at least $33 billion to achieve its 2030 target.

00:57International donors pledged some $19 billion in 2021, but by 2023 only $2.5 billion had

01:05materialized.

01:06Was Africa's Great Green Wall an expensive pipe dream?

01:10And should it be carried on at all?

01:13We have a missing link, which is the dialogue with civil society organizations.

01:19I think they are the labor force in the implementation of the Green Green Wall.

01:24They need means, they need to be supported, they need also national policies that encourage

01:32them, that enable them to do what they have to do.

01:36Yet, it's not all bleak.

01:39Considerable strides have been made with almost 18 million hectares of degraded land restored

01:44so far.

01:45However, progress is undeniably slow, the results are now rather frustrating and the

01:51spending exorbitantly high.

01:54Should the project be continued or is it time to look for new solutions?

01:59This is not acceptable at all.

02:01We are too slow and in between, in the meantime, land is degrading more and more.

02:09People are suffering, water, water stress, drought is occurring in these areas.

02:17So what does it take to keep the dream of Africa's Great Green Wall?

02:22Every African, every African should take the Great Green Wall as a flagship program, as

02:27a program that everybody will be involved.

02:31Under which conditions is the project doomed?

02:34This initiative, if we combine it with politics, then we will bury it.

02:40It's beyond the politics.

02:41For the dream of Africa's Great Green Wall to survive, it is crucial to involve every

02:47African, regardless of their location or status in this project.

02:51A united approach from both the public and private sectors is essential.

02:55It is important to foster a common understanding that this Green Wall will eventually benefit

03:00each and every one.

03:02This collective effort is the only way that Africa's Great Green Wall will still be

03:07able to blossom.

03:08And that is the flip side.

Flip Side: Africa's Green Wall — A pipe dream after all?

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