PARIS, Jan 11 (Reuters) - Development banks and states have
pledged a total of $14.32 billion over the next four years to
build a "Great Green Wall" to help contain desertification in
Africa's northern Sahel region, French President Emmanuel Macron
said on Monday.
Speaking at an international biodiversity summit in Paris
that his government is hosting, Macron said the pledges had
exceeded the initial target of $10 billion.
Creeping desertification of land on the edges of the Sahara
desert that used to be productive is plunging people into
desperate poverty and driving some to migrate.
The project covers a strip of land stretching 8,000 km
(5,000 miles) from the Atlantic to the Red Sea. Trees and
grasslands will be planted, and projects launched to create
sustainable ecosystems, supporters of the initiative say.
"That's 100 million hectares restored, 10 million jobs
created, 250 million tonnes of carbon captured," Macron said at
the summit at the Elysee Palace, home of the French presidential
administration.
The African Bank for Development (AfDB) said over 5 years it
would mobilise $6.5 billion of the $14.32 billion pledged for
the project.
"The future of the Sahel region depends on the Great Green
Wall," said AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina. "Without the Great
Green Wall, the Sahel region as we know it may disappear."