The Great Green Wall, once hailed as a world wonder and a beacon of hope for Africa's Sahel region, has instead become a cautionary tale of poorly planned projects and unmet promises. This ambitious ecological undertaking, launched by the African Union in 2007 with the goal of planting a 4,350-mile-long "wall" of trees to combat desertification, has instead left many sites barren and broken. The project, which aimed to sequester 250 million tons of carbon, provide "green jobs" for 10 million people, and alleviate poverty, food insecurity, and conflict, has instead become a symbol of failure and mismanaged funds.
One of the key problems with the Great Green Wall has been its lack of local participation and inadequate planning. Many of the trees planted were the wrong species for the region, and there wasn't enough water to sustain them. This, coupled with a lack of incentives for local communities to care for the trees, led to widespread failure. In Senegal, for example, out of 36 Great Green Wall plots surveyed, only one was more green than it would have been naturally due to rainfall.
The project's focus then shifted to cultivating arid, degraded land, but this has also been beset by problems. By 2020, only 4% of the land had been "restored," and international donors pledged a further $19 billion to complete the Wall. However, as of 2023, 80% of this money had been "programmed" but only 13% had been disbursed, with national agencies responsible for administering the project receiving just a fraction of the funds.
The issues that led to the failure of projects like Abdi Guelleh's farm in Djibouti - poor planning, lack of coordination, and inadequate funding - have been repeated countless times along the length of the Wall. In many cases, projects have struggled to stay afloat, with funding running out and equipment breaking down without the means to repair it. The Great Green Wall has become a symbol of hope and letdown, with many asking where the billions of dollars have gone and whether the project will ever live up to its original vision.
