Africa's Great Green Walls initiative to halt the spreading of the Sahara Desert

Africa has been making advancements in environmental issues that have been helping them greatly.Their advancement comes in the form of the Great Green Wall project. This project was first launched in 2007 and was formed to stop the spreading of the Sahara desert into southern Africa. Primarily, trees are planted in a planned barrier of 4,815 miles along the southern border of Africa in what was estimated to be an $8 billion dollar project looking to repopulate 247 million acres with greenery. By the start the project was already involving 399 people from 27 countries who were ready to start solving the problem of the increasing Sahara desert.

The project was originally designed for 11 Sahelian nations because by 1920, the Sahara had already increased by 10%. This is vital to saving the African ecosystem as many countries are already faced with desertification. Desertification is typically described as an area with very little water that is already struggling due to human factors such as overpopulation and deforestation. Already in Africa 1 billion people live in these dry conditions. Desertification leads to a reduction in soil nutrition and productivity which leads to less food, a loss of a diverse ecosystem, and environmental hazards. There are more issues that will be caused, such as: native plants will be replaced with plants that are better suited for drier weather. There will be less access to aquifers which means less access to water. Furthermore, environmental disasters such as big sand storms that can cause breathing problems and later on even death. This will all not only negatively impact the environment but the people too as they will be faced with health issues, lack of water and food, and lack of income.

However, the effects of desertification can be halted by promoting soil fertility. To help with soil fertility, trees are the best option as they go deep underground which helps them stabilize the soil and makes the surrounding area less prone to erosion. Planting even more trees will help them absorb more rainwater and improve the moisture level of the soil so that other plants can start growing. More water absorption leads to stable groundwater systems and more aquifers that could enhance rainfall which would greatly benefit the plants. With time it could lead to a flourishing ecosystem that is profitable and better for human health.

The building of the Great Green Wall has made progress and has created 350,000 jobs for people, raised $90 million, and trained 10 million people in sustaining land and water. The project also has already restored 20 million hectares and an estimated 30% of the wall has been finished. However, they are facing  minor issues as many countries promised $20 billion toward the project also to add on to the starting $8 billion of the project but little money has been sent. It was also found that a decent portion of the seeds have been dying off due to lack of rainfall or being trampled by people or cattle. Although there have been setbacks on the project, it is essential not just to the ecosystem but to the people that the project continues, or there will be a major backlash in the coming years.