They predict that humanity will warm the Earth’s climate by 2 degrees Celsius by 2080 unless radical change is undertaken right now. Thankfully, there is hope.
Across the globe, changes are taking place. And on the southern edge of the Sahara desert, work is currently being done on a revolutionary green initiative that, when completed, would become the largest living megaproject on the planet.
Today, we’re tackling the Great Green Wall. Now we're discussing the Great Green Walls in the World and Desertification.
Why Do We Need a Great Green Wall?
The Great Green Wall is a massive environmental project at the southern tip of the Sahara Desert in the Sahel region of Africa.
The Sahel is a transition zone of the Sahara and includes parts of ten African countries — Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Algeria, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Sudan, and Eritrea.
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| Image via National Geographic |
The climate of the Sahel is dry, arid, and extremely hot. While nowhere in the Sahel receives a significant amount of precipitation, the northern half (the half that is closer to the Sahara Desert) receives much less than the southern half.
But the small amount of rain that falls in the region mostly comes in the form of extremely heavy rains, a phenomenon that is greatly worsened by climate change.
This can lead to massive flooding, as dry soil cannot absorb large amounts of rainwater.
Although the winters are generally cold, the Harmattan winds, which blow through the Sahara, often bring incredibly dangerous dust storms, massive sand deposits, and a harmful reduction in air quality.
But this extreme weather is not the only challenge facing the Sahel. Another big issue is overgrazing.
Many people of the Sahel are semi-nomadic, meaning they travel seasonally to raise livestock and farm.
While this sounds like a solid system, the growing population has led to overgrazing, which means there is not enough food for the animals in the area.
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Desertification
Desertification is probably the biggest problem of all. Desertification is the process by which fertile land becomes desert.
Generally, it results from things like deforestation, drought, or bad farming practices.
This is happening in the Sahel region as we speak, and it makes all the issues we've talked about much worse. But this has been going on for at least the last 100 years.
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| Images via Borgen Magazine |
Some data suggest that the Sahara extended at least 250 km to the south by 1900. An area of half a million square km, which is roughly the size of California.
This is a huge amount of land! Another bad example is the case of Lake Chad. This glorious body of water has shrunk by more than 90% since the 1960s. This has been caused by both climate change and excessive use of the lake by humans.
The lake borders 4 countries — Chad, Nigeria, Niger, and Cameroon — and the impact on the local people has been devastating.
Land conflicts, mass migration, and the death of wildlife are all direct consequences of this ecological tragedy.
Many of these issues are made worse by climate change, especially in the context of the UN Committee's report.
According to their data, if we do not make any changes, then 40% of the Earth's land area is at risk of desertification. This is a shocking figure! So far, we have painted a very grim picture.
It may seem that there is no hope. Thankfully, there are people around the world who are working to reverse the tide of climate change and desertification.
Some of these people are trying to build the largest living structure on the planet, 3 times the size of the Great Barrier Reef: Africa's Great Green Wall.
The Great Green Wall of Africa
The Great Green Wall of Africa is a revolutionary project that aims to reduce the effects of climate change in Africa.
This will cover the Sahel region, which we have told you about throughout this blog. The wall is intended to contain approx. 100 million trees and span over 8,000 km across the entire width of Africa.
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| Images via unccd.int |
Currently, the project is about 15% complete, and about 17 million trees have been planted as part of the Great Green Wall.
Of course, something like this doesn't come cheap. Initial estimates put the cost of completing the Great Green Wall mega project in Africa at a whopping $8 billion.
However, as we'll explain in a moment, the project is facing major problems and the actual cost is likely to be much higher. But first, let's take a look at why this wall is being built.
First and foremost, it is intended to slow soil erosion and thereby stop the progress of the Sahara. A forest of this scale can also serve as a large-scale windbreaker.
Secondly, it will greatly reduce the amount of carbon in the air, fighting climate change every day. And finally, it takes a lot of labor to plant all these trees! Some estimates that the project could create hundreds of thousands of jobs for people across Africa.
The idea for the project was initiated in the 1950s by British explorer Richard St. Barbe Baker.
In 2002, it was considered by the community of the Sahel-Saharan states as a way to stop the rapid expansion of the Sahara Desert and was soon approved.
In 2007, it was also endorsed by the African Union. In total, more than 20 African countries are participating in the project. Additionally, there are several corporate and international partners who have since signed on to help.
Sadly, the Great Green Wall is facing many obstacles. The project was initially scheduled to be completed in 2030, but it is looking more and more unrealistic. To begin with, it is far behind the times. According to its website, the project is only 15% complete.
It is 14 years into the initiative, with only 9 to go before its original 2030 deadline. Not enough trees have been planted during this time, and not enough land has been reclaimed from the Sahara.
The biggest problem is the lack of proper management and insufficient funds. An additional $14 billion of pledged funds provided the much-needed cash boost to the Great Green Wall in March 2021, but even that may not be enough.
Some estimate that the project could require up to $11 billion in funding having any shot at completion, and it may be difficult to convince African governments that it is worth such a huge investment. But unfortunately, there is a worse problem.
Many plants have already died due to a lack of care. This has led many to ask whether the project was too ambitious in the first place.
Interestingly, Africa is not the only place building a Green Wall. There is a similar project in the works only one continent away! And this one is off to a much better start. In India, a massive mega project is currently in the works.
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The Great Green Wall of India
It is being built in the Aravalli, a mountain range in the north-western part of India. The region is humid subtropical, meaning that it experiences very hot summers and relatively cold winters.
Like the Sahel, the region is quite dry and receives very little rainfall. India's Green Wall will be 1,400 km long and 5 km wide. It is estimated that around 1.35 billion trees will be used to build it, which is a staggering sum.
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| Images via Drishtiias |
The project started in 2019 and is off to a good start. It has a planned end date of 2029, but we'll see if they're able to achieve that goal.
While the project shares many similarities with the Great Green Wall of Africa, there are some important differences.
While Africa's Great Green Wall is specifically designed to halt Saharan expansion and fight climate change, India has somewhat different goals. The Aravalli wall is mainly built to do two things.
First, they hope to restore deforested land in the Aravalli Mountains.
Secondly, they are building a wall to serve as a barrier to the huge amount of dust blowing from the deserts of western India and Pakistan. Only time will tell whether these projects are successful or not.
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