The Great Green Wall: trees to halt the desert
Recreate a huge vegetation belt that will cross all of Africa to fight against desertification in the Sahel.
Micke Science explains !
Discover with Micke Science the ambitious Great Green Wall project, an initiative supported by the Klorane Botanical Foundation since 2012. This reforestation project in Africa aims to combat the desertification of the Sahel and revitalize local ecosystems by planting trees like the Desert Date, a species capable of surviving the region's extreme conditions. Through this explanation, Micke Science shows how the efforts contribute to developing a greener future while fighting poverty.
Micke Science, science communication content creator
The Great Green Wall to combat desertification in the Sahel
Growing 7,000 km of dense vegetation
In the Sahel, the desert has been steadily gaining ground over the last few decades as woodland areas decline. Its advance brings with it rural exodus and poverty. What if we reversed the trend?
The challenge is daunting: to recreate a new forest and extend it, running like a great green corridor across the entire African continent. A long green belt 15 km wide connecting Dakar to Djibouti: over 7,000 km of vegetation to slow down the desert’s spread.
Planting thousands of trees
In 2004, 11 African countries came together and decided to take up this challenge by creating the Pan-African Agency for the Great Green Wall. We chose to accompany them starting in 2012, offering our support to Senegal.
Today, the mission is underway: more than 130,000 desert date palms have already been planted, and more than 45,000 hectares of desert have been revitalised with vegetation. These are lands where desertification is receding and life is returning.
Multiplying species
What can be planted to combat desertification? We need plants that can survive the extreme conditions of the Sahel, such as the desert date palm (Balanites aegyptiaca), acacia trees (Acacia senegal, Acacia seyal) and the Indian jujube (Ziziphus mauritiana).
The Great Green Wall will be all the more sustainable if it is home to multiple species. Plant biodiversity increases resistance to climatic variations, insects and disease. Other shrubs and herbaceous plants are therefore needed to join the trees in this vast canopy.
The desert date palm
Balanites aegyptiaca (L.) Delile
(Family: Zygophyllaceae)
This tree can survive for 2 years without water. It is resistant to bush fires thanks to its thick bark and can live for over 100 years in hostile environments. Enough to survive on the edge of the desert!
It also serves human beings in many ways, including by providing fruit, fodder and raw materials for building and crafts, and plays a central role in many traditional medicinal uses in Sahelian communities.
What is desertification?
Deserts do not advance on their own. It is the land that degrades and becomes infertile.
The causes? Essentially changes in the climate, such as droughts, and human activity. Intensive deforestation, overgrazing and drilling, for example, play a major role.
In Senegal, a clear commitment
Senegal, a pioneer in the Great Green Wall programme, started planting in 2008 in the Ferlo region in the north-east, right in the heart of the Sahel. The Senegalese Water and Forests department has overall responsibility for this operation, including monitoring and evaluating it, and raising awareness among the local population. It is the executive arm of the Senegalese agency for the Great Green Wall.
THE GREAT GREEN WALL TO COMBAT POVERTY
This programme is unique in that it combines the protection of biodiversity with a humanist vision. The benefits are tangible on a daily basis for the local population, providing better food and an additional source of income.
Local communities mobilised
The involvement of local people is therefore essential in this programme, particularly in Senegal where the programme is most advanced.
In the Ferlo region, many nurseries have been set up in cooperation with local residents. They are responsible for caring for the tree seedlings destined for the Great Green Wall and ensure that they develop properly.
The men prepare the seedling trays, water the seedlings and monitor the protected plots and young trees. In return, they are allowed to harvest the first produce from the plot (fodder, gum arabic, etc.).
Vegetable gardens for women
In Senegal, the initiative extends beyond the replanting of this large forest of desert date palms. This new vegetation cover, by promoting soil regeneration, has made it possible to create 8 nurseries and 9 vegetable and market gardens. In exchange for maintaining the forest nurseries, more than 1,500 women are free to use them and benefit from their produce.
In addition to diversifying the diet of local residents, the fruit and vegetables are sold at markets, providing a source of income.
Medicinal plants for everyday health
In the Ferlo, traditional medicine remains an essential solution when access to healthcare is limited. Documenting and passing on local knowledge about plants means empowering families and encouraging the preservation of this useful flora. Working alongside the CNRS (OHMi Téssékéré), we support initiatives that identify the species used, raise awareness among communities and promote environmentally friendly practices.
The use of medicinal plants may present risks. Traditional uses do not constitute a therapeutic promise. Before any personal use, seek advice from a healthcare professional.
Our commitment
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Planting 10,000 desert date palms a year since 2012.
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Funding 3 doctoral theses each year on Sahelian plants and their impact on people, the environment and health.
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Conducting a study into the transmission of knowledge relating to medicinal plants to young people, and highlighting the therapeutic and biochemical properties of certain plants.
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Supporting the annual science and medicine summer school in Senegal (civic and scientific activities, multidisciplinary exchanges).
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Creating an educational plot at Widou Thiengoly primary school: the pupils, supervised by the teaching staff and the Water and Forests team, learn about biodiversity in the Sahel, plant trees and monitor their plot. Following the success of the initiative, a second plot was launched at Koyli Alpha.
The CNRS in full observation mode!
We have been partnering with the CNRS on this project since 2012. The French National Centre for Scientific Research has set up an Observatoire Hommes Milieux (OHMi) to study the ecological, medical and social impact of these plantations.
PROJECT SELECTED FOR “UNESCO GREEN CITIZENS, BECOME AN ACTOR OF CHANGE”!
The “Great Green Wall” project has been chosen by UNESCO as an emblematic example of education for sustainable development, one of a dozen or so projects recognised around the world.
Our partner: National Scientific Research Centre (CNRS)
This prestigious public research centre is probably the best known in France. Through its 1,053 laboratories, it covers all scientific fields – from the humanities and social sciences to chemistry and nuclear physics.
A major producer of Nobel Prize winners and Fields Medal winners, the CNRS is a true revealer of talent, but also, and above all, of knowledge.
To go even further
Want to explore other plants? Browse our “ “Medicinal plants” page: illustrated fact sheets, videos and projects, from the Sahel to the Amazon.
