Global launch of USD 222 million Great Green Wall Programme at COP30 to restore Sahel landscapes

The Scaling-Up Resilience in Africa’s Great Green Wall (SURAGGWA) project was officially launched at COP30 in Belém, Brazil. This landmark USD 222 million initiative – supported by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Green Climate Fund (GCF) – is poised to restore degraded landscapes and build climate resilience across eight countries in Africa’s Sahel: Burkina Faso, Chad, Djibouti, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, and Senegal. 

In his opening remarks, H.E. Dr. El Hadji Abdourahmane Diouf, Minister of the Environment and Ecological Transition in Senegal, underscored the urgent social, climate and environmental challenges facing the Sahel’s pastoralist and agro-pastoralist communities. 

“Agriculture, livestock, and forestry activities are the pillars of [Sahelian] economies, and more than 70% of their rural communities depend directly on rainfed agriculture,” said Mr Diouf.

The Minister affirmed his government’s commitment to ensuring the SURAGGWA Programme’s success, but called on all stakeholders to “take ownership” of the multicountry initiative.

H.E. Almoustapha Garba, Executive Secretary of the Pan-African Agency of the Great Green Wall, announced plans to train around “15,000 community groups and organizations in land restoration activities and monitoring” through the SURAGGWA Programme. He added that “over 1.2 million hectares of land will be restored by promoting low-emission, climate-resilient management practices.”

“The SURAGGWA Programme will make a significant contribution to achieving the targets of the Great Green Wall Initiative,” said Mr Garba.

Halting desertification

Mr Abakar Mourno Abdoulaye, from Chad’s Ministry of the Environment, Fisheries and Sustainable Development – and the GCF National Designated Authority (NDA) – warned of his country’s vulnerability to climate change. “Chad is a desert country,” he said, “with 70% of its surface area occupied by desert,” and only 30% of land habitable. This puts enormous pressure on natural resources.

“Every year, we lose three kilometers of land to the desert,” he noted. 

Similarly, Mr Mohamed Yahya Ould Lafdal, Director General of Mauritania’s National Observatory of the Environment and the Coastline, underscored the multiple challenges facing his country, such as land degradation, biodiversity loss, and drought.

He noted that investments through the SURAGGWA Programme will help introduce “innovative value chains” that deliver social, environmental and economic benefits. 

Building partnerships

Dr Sékouna Diatta, Director General of the Senegalese Agency for Reforestation and the Great Green Wall, called for scaling up restoration and biodiversity conservation efforts over the next ten years.

“We need to support local communities,” added Dr Diatta, so that these populations “become the beneficiaries of these non-timber forest products through the value chain.”

Mr Diatta also emphasized the critical role local agencies, banks and the private sector can play in creating synergies with the Great Green Wall initiative. 

The SURAGGWA Programme will include collaboration with Senegalese public and private Direct Access Entities – i.e. regional, national and subnational institutions that are accredited under the GCF’s direct access modality – to ensure country ownership and continuity. 

The road ahead

In her closing remarks, Ms. Catherine Koffman, Director of GCF’s Department of the Africa Region, hailed SURAGGWA’s role in Africa's flagship Great Green Wall initiative.

“SURAGGWA is designed to directly support the African Union's Great Green Wall objectives to restore 100 million hectares of land, generate 10 million jobs, and sequester 250 million tons of carbon by 2030,” said Ms Koffman.

She also outlined how the SURAGGWA Programme contributes to the Fund’s overall Strategic Plan (2024–2027), in terms of conserving, restoring, or sustainably managing 120 to 190 million hectares of terrestrial and marine ecosystems. The initiative offers “a model for regional and multilateral collaboration” that is “grounded in ecological restoration, sustainable economic growth, and sound environmental governance,” she explained. 

Wrapping up the session, Ms Koffman highlighted that GCF has funded more than 48 proposals amounting to USD 1.5 billion in the Great Green Wall countries – making GCF one of the largest partners of the Great Green Wall initiative.

Nadine Valat, FAO’s GCF Coordinator – and the event moderator – celebrated SURAGGWA’s evolution from a bold idea to an ambitious multicountry Programme. “It’s truly a partnership between the eight beneficiary countries, the Pan-African Agency of the Great Green Wall, the Green Climate Fund, and FAO,” she added. 

The hybrid event was livestreamed on YouTube: ▶️ https://youtube.com/live/tVkdhfY99m0?feature=share