The President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Akinwumi Adesina, was named Resource Mobilization Champion of the Great Green Wall Initiative at a forum held on the sidelines of the 2021 One Planet Summit in Paris.
The Great Green Wall consists of planting a mosaic of trees, meadows, vegetation and plants 8,000 kilometres long and 15 kilometres wide across the Sahara and Sahel.AfDB Chair was named champion of this African initiative at a forum held on the sidelines of the “One Planet Summit 2021”. “I would also like to acknowledge the determination of Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank, who has agreed to take on the role of champion of resource mobilization and to help lift, by 2030, all the funds needed to build the Great Green Wall,” said French President Emmanuel Macron.
Akinwumi Adesina’s mission will be to mobilize the necessary political and economic support.The Great Green Wall initiative is, according to Macron, a first step towards solutions rooted in nature as well as solutions based on the dynamism of eco-solutions in Africa». “In terms of security and viability, France is very involved in this region. We need to strengthen this initiative for the benefit of the 11 countries involved,” he said.
Akinwumi Adesina announced that the AfDB will mobilize up to US$6.5 billion over the next five years for the Great Green Wall initiative, joining multilateral development institutions, Governments and development partners have pledged more than $14 billion. The World Bank, for its part, has pledged more than US$5 billion in financing to help overcome the challenges posed by land and land rehabilitation and degradation and to try to solve the problems concerning Lake Chad.
“As we turn the corner on the coronavirus and its impact on our world, we need to readjust our growth model. We must prioritize growth that protects the environment and biodiversity, and stop prioritizing growth that compromises our common good,” said Akinwumi Adesina. AfDB President believes that the Great Green Wall is part of Africa’s environmental defence system. It is a real shield against the onslaught of desertification and land degradation processes. “The future of the African Sahel region depends on the Great Green Wall. Faced with climate change and desertification, without the Great Green Wall, the Sahel is in danger of disappearing,” he added.
Musicians Baaba Maal and Ricky Kej and environmental activist Hindu Oumarou Ibrahim are among the other champions of the Great Green Wall initiative.
