COP 21: Ghana writes to join Great Green Wall
Ghana has written to join the Great Green Wall (GGW) initiative to help halt land degradation in the three regions of the north.
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Experts are expected to hold further discussions with the Minister of Environment, Science and Innovation (MESTI) soon after the climate change talks currently ongoing in the French capital of Paris.
The Great Green Wall is an initiative by a former President of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo in 2005 to help green the continent from west to east in order to battle land degradation and its associated erosion.
As of now, 12 countries form the Great Green Wall
The Coordinator for the project, Dr Elvis Paul a Nfor Tangem told Graphic Online in Paris that a team of experts will visit Ghana by the end of this year to hold further discussions with the MESTI, and visit the Northern, Upper East and Upper West regions which will benefit from the project.
"Ghana's Minister of Environment, Science and Innovations has written to the GGW Secretariat to be a part of the project," he said.
Dr Tangem said, there had been series of discussions with Ghana's Minister, Mr Mahama Ayariga, and there were plans to hold further discussions soon after the climate change conference and visits to the Northern, Upper East, and Upper West regions in furtherance to initiating the project.
The GGW vision evolved into an integrated ecosystem management approach in January 2007, when the African Union adopted declaration 137 VIII, approving the “Decision on the Implementation of the Green Wall for the Sahara Initiative”.
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In June 2010, Burkina Faso, Chad, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal and Sudan signed a convention in Ndjamena, Chad, to create the Great Green Wall (GGW) Agency and nominate a secretary to further develop the initiative
According to Mr Tangem, the project among others aims at tackling poverty and the degradation of soils in the Sahel-Saharan region, focusing on a strip of land of 15 km (9 mi) wide and 7,100 km (4,400 mi) long from Dakar to Djibouti.
Why
Populations in Sahelian Africa are among the poorest and most vulnerable to climatic variability and land degradation. They depend heavily on healthy ecosystems for rain fed agriculture, fisheries, and livestock management to sustain their livelihoods.
These constitute the primary sectors of employment in the region and generate at least 40 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in most of the countries.
Additionally, the ecosystem provides much needed livelihood products, such as fuelwood and bushmeat. Unfortunately, increasing population pressures on food, fodder, and fuelwood in a vulnerable environment have deteriorating impacts on natural resources, notably vegetation cover.
Climate variability along with frequent droughts and poorly managed land and water resources have caused rivers and lakes to dry up and contribute to increased soil erosion.
Benefits
The participating countries hope that by linking national-level efforts across borders, they will tackle policy, investment, and institutional barriers that exacerbate the effects of climate change and variability, leading to desertification and deterioration of the environment and natural resources and the risk of conflicts between communities.