Since its launch in 2007, the global Great Green Wall movement to grow 8000km across the entire width of Africa has demonstrated limited success. WeForest’s programme is well positioned to accelerate and scale the African Great Green Wall, starting with our established projects in Ethiopia.

In Amhara and Tigray, Ethiopia, deforestation means millions of tons of soil are washed away each year, leaving thousands of small farming families already living in extreme poverty struggling to feed their families. Our focus is to reverse this vicious cycle of poverty and degradation by restoring the degraded forest landscape to improve water access and reverse soil erosion, building more resilient communities. We are aiming to restore 48 000 ha by 2030, to support over 34 000 families from 27 villages, ensuring better lives for these remote and hard-working farming communities.

At the other end of the Great Green Wall in Senegal, WeForest is driving a unique consortium of international and African partners with decades of experience, regional presence and complementary knowledge to pilot test an effective and cost-efficient restoration model which is both ecologically suitable and socially accepted. By 2024, 1000ha of degraded and dry land will be restored with pastoralist communities front and centre of the restoration, working alongside our local partners AVSF, and national research institutes ISRA and CIRAD. On-site scientific research with the new native and fruiting tree crops like the baobab - the “Mother of the Sahel” and social research with pastoralist communities will unlock the potential for successful restoration in this region.

Discover all four WeForest programmes at https://www.weforest.org/programmes/