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It seems like Mission Impossible: Stop the Sahara Desert from spreading farther south, its incursion into arable land fueled by climate change and overgrazing.
But tree by tree, a Great Green Wall is being planted across a belt of Africa to fight back, though the success of the Herculean effort depends in large part on about a dozen countries making a concerted effort and on funding.
Under plans launched in 2007, the Great Green Wall will be an arc of trees and plants running 7,000 kilometers (4,350 miles) across Africa — from Senegal along the Atlantic all the way to Djibouti on the Gulf of Aden.
The 15-kilometer (9-mile) wide wall is a part of a wider initiative meant to help reduce seasonal winds packed with sand and dust, slow land degradation and the encroaching desert, and to improve the health and lives of those living nearby.
So far in Senegal, the country furthest along in the project, 40,000 hectares (99,000 acres) has been planted along a line of 150 kilometers (93 miles), that will eventually extend to 545 kilometers (340 miles) covering about 800,000 hectares (1,976,800 acres), according to Senegal's national agency for the project.
desertification.wordpress.com
But tree by tree, a Great Green Wall is being planted across a belt of Africa to fight back, though the success of the Herculean effort depends in large part on about a dozen countries making a concerted effort and on funding.
Under plans launched in 2007, the Great Green Wall will be an arc of trees and plants running 7,000 kilometers (4,350 miles) across Africa — from Senegal along the Atlantic all the way to Djibouti on the Gulf of Aden.
The 15-kilometer (9-mile) wide wall is a part of a wider initiative meant to help reduce seasonal winds packed with sand and dust, slow land degradation and the encroaching desert, and to improve the health and lives of those living nearby.
So far in Senegal, the country furthest along in the project, 40,000 hectares (99,000 acres) has been planted along a line of 150 kilometers (93 miles), that will eventually extend to 545 kilometers (340 miles) covering about 800,000 hectares (1,976,800 acres), according to Senegal's national agency for the project.
Mission Impossible: Stop the Sahara Desert with the GGW
Photo credit: AP The Big Story Map shows Great Green Wall pan-African planting project fights desertification. Wall of trees being planted across Africa to halt desert By CARLEY PETESCH and CHEIKH …
desertification.wordpress.com
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