Great Green Wall Initiative of the Sahara and the Sahel”
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Harmonised regional strategy for implementation of the “Great Green Wall Initiative of the Sahara and the Sahel” Document produced with the financial and technical support of: Acknowledgements The African Union Commission and the Secretariat of the Panafrican Agency responsible for the Great Green Wall would like to extend their thanks to the organizations and institutions below for their technical contributions and inputs to the preparation of this strategy: Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................................................................................... 1 CONTENTS ............................................................................................................................................................. 3 ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS ......................................................................................................................... 4 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................. 6 2. THE GREAT GREEN WALL CONCEPT ............................................................................................................... 9 3. GREAT GREEN WALL STRATEGIC APPROACH ............................................................................................... 11 3.1 GEOGRAPHIC COVER ........................................................................................................................................ 11 3.2 VISION .......................................................................................................................................................... 11 3.3 OBJECTIVES .................................................................................................................................................... 12 3.3.1 OVERALL OBJECTIVE ........................................................................................................................................ 12 3.3.2 STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES .................................................................................................................................... 13 3.3.3 OPERATIONAL OBJECTIVES AND EXPECTED OUTCOMES ............................................................................................ 15 4. IMPLEMENTATION FRAMEWORK ................................................................................................................ 16 4.1 GUIDING PRINCIPLES ........................................................................................................................................ 17 4.2 EFFECTIVE STAKEHOLDER COMMITMENT .............................................................................................................. 18 4.2.1 AT OPERATIONAL LEVEL, ................................................................................................................................... 18 4.2.1.1 NATIONAL AND LOCAL ADMINISTRATIONS ........................................................................................................ 18 4.2.1.2 TERRITORIAL COMMUNITIES (REGIONS AND URBAN OR RURAL COMMUNES) ........................................................... 19 4.2.1.3 CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS (NGOS, GCOS) ............................................................................................... 19 4.2.1.4 TECHNICAL AND FINANCIAL PARTNERS ............................................................................................................. 20 4.2.2 AT POLITICAL AND STRATEGIC LEVEL .................................................................................................................... 21 5. CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT ............................................................................................................................ 22 5.1. CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT NEEDS ............................................................................................................................... 22 5.2 NEEDS ASSESSMENT ................................................................................................................................................ 24 6. MOBILIZING RESOURCES ............................................................................................................................. 25 7. COMMUNICATION AND INITIATIVE VISIBILITY ............................................................................................ 28 8. MONITORING AND EVALUATION ................................................................................................................ 29 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................................................................................................................... 32 Abbreviations and Acronyms ODA Official Development Assistance APGMV Panafrican Agency responsible for the Great Green Wall UNFCCC United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change CEDEAO Communauté Economique Des Etats de l’Afrique de l’Ouest CEEAC Communauté Economique des Etats de l’Afrique Centrale CEN-SAD Communauté des Etats Saharo-Sahéliens CILSS Comité Permanent Inter Etats de lutte contre la sécheresse dans le Sahel Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le CIRAD développement STC/CCD Science and Technology Committee of the UNCCD AUC African Union Commission FAO United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization GEF Global Environment Facility SLM Sustainable Land Management ICRAF World Agroforestry Centre IFDC International Centre for Soil Fertility and Agricultural Development IGAD Autorité intergouvernementale de développement (de l’Afrique de l’Est) GGWSSI Great Green Wall Initiative of the Sahara and the Sahel IIED International Institute for Environment and Development IRD Institut de Recherche pour le Développement CDM Clean Development Mechanism GM/CCD UNCCD Global Mechanism NEPAD Nouveau Partenariat pour le Développement de l’Afrique OCB Organisation communautaire de base MDG Millennium Development Goal NGO Non-governmental organization CSO Civil society organization OSS Sahara and Sahel Observatory NAP National Action Plan to Combat Desertification RAP Regional Action Plan to Combat Desertification SRAP Sub-Regional Action Plan to Combat Desertification PDDAA ou CAADP Programme détaillé pour le développement de l’agriculture en Afrique LDCs Least Developed Countries RAF FAO Africa Regional Office IFS Integrated Financing Strategy TCP Technical Cooperation Plan (FAO) IUCN International Union for the Conservation of Nature AMU Arab Maghreb Union UN United Nations UNCCD United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification WOCAT World Overview of Conservation Approaches and Technologies 1. Introduction The Great Green Wall Initiative of the Sahara and the Sahel was the result of a threefold observation: 1. Desertification, climate change the loss of biodiversity are crucial problems for arid regions of Africa where they combine to exacerbate people’s food insecurity and affect both countries’ development efforts and the livelihoods of the poorest populations on the planet. 2. Climate previsions in Africa show a serious risk of extension of arid areas both in the southern and northern parts of the Sahara, which threatens to prevent efforts to fight poverty on the continent. 3. Efforts agreed in the context of the implementation of the United Nations Convention to combat desertification (UNCCD) and the improvement of the resilience of human and natural systems to climate change do not match the objectives, be it for the conservation of natural resources or poverty reduction. These observations resulted in a strong political will in the African continent to form an African partnership supported by international solidarity, in order to halt and reverse land degradation tendencies (water, soil, vegetation) in Africa’s arid lands through a coherent and cooperative set of actions with the following three aims: 1. Conservation, development and management of renewable natural resources and ecosystems; 2. Building of infrastructures and maximizing rural potential; 3. Consolidating and diversifying economic activities and improving living conditions of local rural communities. The partnership idea was translated into the Great Green Wall by President Obasanjo in reference, on the one hand, to various experiments carried out in Africa to protect human systems against sand dune movement (green belt, green barrier, earth front, etc.), on the other, to popular perceptions according to which deserts move and therefore advance and trees are the best or the only means to protect, save the vegetation and stop “desert encroachment”. Since 2005, the Great Green Wall concept has developed considerably. In 2005, the aim was to erect a 15 km wide tree barrier linking Dakar to Djibouti in order to stop “desert encroachment” and protect ecosystems and human communities in the south and north of the Sahara from the harmful effects of desertification and drought on their economic and social development. Most stakeholders now need to use it as an arid land sustainable development programming tool complementing ongoing regional and continental initiatives (TerrAfrica, PDDAA/NEPAD, NEPAD Environmental Action Plan, etc.) and capable of attracting a large flow of financial resources for the rehabilitation of degraded land in the area surrounding the Sahara, thereby enhancing peace and security in this area. This development made it possible to eliminate scepticism and questions surrounding