From the 25th to 29th August 2014, Chad hosted the second edition of the Africa Drylands Week under the theme: “2014: Year of Agriculture and food security in Africa: The role of Sustainable Land Management”. The event was organized by the African Union Commission with the technical and financial support of FAO and contributions from other partners. Over 150 particpants from over 22 countries, including Chad, Africa and Europe from a wide range of disciplines, high level government officials, diplomats and eminent development personalities, experts, researchers, development practitioners and representatives of civil society and farmer organizations participated to the week.

The event included presentations, an exhibition, discussions, a Ministerial dialogue on gum arabic, a press conference and a field trip and tree planting. Discussions were conducted on the development and launch of an African Working Group on Desertification. All the speakers generally agreed that drylands in Africa are suffering from degradation and are generally vulnerable areas, but they present also many opportunities to reverse these trends and achieve sustainable development.

The event hosted a special session on “The Great Green Wall for the Sahara and the Sahel Initiative: A game changer in African Drylands” which allowed to showcase achievements so far as well as challenges. FAO, as one of the major partners of the African Union Commission to support implementation of the GGWSSI, shared its contribution to the initiative and presented the guidelines “” that are currently under publication. FAO highlighted the relevance of these guidelines in restoring the agro-sylvo-pastoral landscapes,  a high priority defined in all the already validated Great Green Wall national action plans. Moreover, representatives from Chad, Niger and Senegal had the opportunity to share experiences in the implementation of the GGWSSI in their countries.

More information about the event on the African Union Commission website.

Documents and presentations available here.

More detailed information on the guidelines "Building resilience in drylands: global guidelines for restoration of forests and degraded landscapes" are available in this leaflet.