Background
Soil degradation and unsustainable land/water management are key causes and impacts of climate change in Africa. The Great Green Wall initiative, launched in 2007, is the AU's flagship initiative to slow the expansion of the Sahara Desert, address land degradation, boost food security, and support transformational resilience of communities to adapt to climate change. However, coordination between the various projects composing the Great Green Wall should be further improved. A coherent mapping can further help develop the GGW, while enhanced support for agroforestry can represent additional incentives for youth to stay in rural areas and engage in activities promoting the sustainable use of natural resources. Agroforestry has proven suitable to mitigate the consequences of climate change and can provide livelihood opportunities for youth in the region.
Our objectives for Environment:
“To contribute to the Great Green Wall Initiative and bolster efforts against desertification (mapping existing agroforestry initiatives, building capacity of women & young farmers, and initiating incentives with mobile payments for ecosystem services).”
“Information sharing and coordination between Great Green Wall (GGW) activities are enhanced through a digital map, helping visualise sustainable development projects driven by local communities. ”
“Capacity and participation in climate-friendly practices is boosted through creative, youth-oriented messaging and communications. ”
“Wider citizen and corporate participation in the GGW is enhanced through the possibility to finance local projects and trace impact. ”
“A local and scalable payment for ecosystem services (PES) scheme for drought-tolerant tree planting results in an increase in agroforestry practices among young farmers and raises income.”
“Women and youth are empowered to show environmental leadership in their communities.”
Our activities and aspirations for Environment and Climate Change
Developing and maintaining a collaborative platform, based on geo-mapping, (a) to provide a user-friendly mapping of existing Great Green Wall (GGW) initiatives and a way to engage citizen/corporate financing and (b) to provide hands-on information on agroforestry, directly applicable to the issues faced by farmers in the targeted region, built on best practices and experiences.
Select a country within the Great Green Wall (GGW) framework which has a GGW National Action Plan, in which the following activities will unfold:
Agroforestry support (e.g. by developing nurseries, distributing seedlings (preference for women-run micro or SMEs), training of farmers and trainers, including provision of toolkits/training material incorporating indigenous knowledge);
Implementation of an innovative incentive system for agroforestry practices in rural areas, enabling access to and inclusion of vulnerable areas/persons, and ensuring risk management and fraud minimization. Blockchain and existing best practices in payment for ecosystem services (PES) should be considered.
Coordination encouraged with existing official institutions and public stakeholders working with the GGW Initiative (notably with the AUC's Rural Economy & Agriculture Department, International Council for Research in Agroforestry);
Designing and launching a creative communication campaign on the GGW reaching (a) young people in rural areas, with relevant communication channels adapted to this specific population, on the benefits of climate-smart agriculture, and to engage them in agroforestry, and (b) wider African youth with a view to get them involved;
Designing and preparing a sustainability plan for PES for agroforestry with links to the GGW National Action Plans and Nationally Determined Contributions targets (NDC) to reduce climate change.