Fifteen years ago, the African Union established the Great Green Wall Initiative to combat desertification, land degradation and climate change. The Great Green Wall spans 8,000 km along the southern edge of the Saharan Desert, from Senegal to Djibouti, and aims to create 10 million jobs by restoring 100 million hectares of degraded land and capturing 250 tonnes of carbon dioxide by 2030.

Progress, however, has lagged ambition, with less than 20% of the restoration target having been reached so far. Meeting the 2030 targets will require that the current pace of land restoration increases to 8.2 million hectares annually, which will require €3.5 - 4.1 billion each year. Following on from this year’s 6^th EU - AU Summit, the EU-Africa Global Gateway Investment Package mobilises a broad support package to boost this crucial next phase of Africa’s Great Green Wall.

To support these efforts, the Africa Knowledge Platform now includes four new geospatial datasets that are relevant to the Great Green Wall Initiative:

1. The Sahelian transition boundaries, based on rainfall isohyets.
2. The breath of the Sahel, which represent the dynamic expansion and contraction of the Sahelian zone.
3. The boundaries of the Great Green Wall Initiative, as delineated by the FAO.
4. The land productivity dynamics in the Sahel based on remotely sensed vegetation greenness.

A digital StoryMap on carbon storage in Africa also includes information relevant to the Great Green Wall Initiative.