Rome - The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in partnership with Turkey’s Ministry of Forestry and Water Affairs, is working to support Eritrea, Mauritania and Sudan as they fight land degradation and desertification through sustainable management of their natural resources and by restoring degraded forests and landscapes.

Through the FAO-Turkey Forestry Partnership programme, FAO is developing and implementing Boosting Restoration, Income, Development, Generating Ecosystem Services (BRIDGES), a project that contributes to Africa’s Great Green Wall initiative and will work in synergy with the Action Against Desertification project.

BRIDGES was first presented in September 2017 at a side event during UNCCD COP 13 in Ordos, China where the focus was placed on the project’s South-South cooperation dimension, as well as such objectives as restoring 5 000 hectares of degraded lands and promoting non-wood forest products value chains. The project budget is USD 3.6 million, including USD 3 million from Turkey and USD 600 000 committed by the EU-African, Caribbean Pacific Group of States (ACP) through the Action Against Desertification project.

Deciding on next steps for the three-year BRIDGES project, which is slated to commence in early 2018, was at top of the agenda at an inception meeting of all partners involved, including Turkey, Sudan, Eritrea, Mauritania and FAO in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire in late October 2017.

Related links

Building BRIDGES between Turkey and Africa's Great Green Wall