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Press
release (Communiqué de presse, version
Française)
Press Kit English
Press Kit French
PRESS
RELEASE
Embargoed Until
11 January 2020, 14:00hrs
GMT
Great
Green Wall Receives Over $10billion* To Regreen
The Sahel- France, World Bank Listed Among
Donors
Bonn/Paris,
January 11, 2021 – The ambitious
Great Green Wall for the Sahel and Sahara
Initiative (GGW) has received at least
10billion* United States Dollars in new funding.
The funding will fast track efforts to restore
degrading land, save biological diversity as
well as create green jobs and build resilience
of the Sahelian people.
Emmanuel
Macron, President of France, made the
announcement at the just concluded One Planet
Summit for Biodiversity co-organized by France,
the United Nations and World
Bank.
The GGW snakes along the
southern margin of Africa’s Sahara Desert
running from the Atlantic coast to the Red Sea.
The Great Green Wall Accelerator makes up 30 per
cent of 33 billion United States Dollars needed
to achieve the Great Green Wall’s ambitions for
the year 2030.
Mohamed Cheikh
El-Ghazouani, President of Mauritania and
current chair of the Conference of Heads of
State and Government of the Pan-African Agency
of the Great Green Wall, welcomed the
Accelerator program on behalf of the
region.
"We welcome the announcement of
the Great Green Wall Accelerator Initiative,
whose objective is to release an initial
contribution over the period 2021-2025, to give
effect to the commitments of the financial
partners in a coordinated framework," said
Ghazouani.
"The mobilization of
this additional funding through an innovative
approach will certainly contribute to the
achievement of the Great Green Wall goals, which
aim by 2030, at the restoration of 100 million
hectares of degraded land and the creation of 10
million green jobs.... This initiative will
certainly facilitate the alignment of our
partners’ interventions, in response to the
concerns raised by our Ministers of Environment
at the last Great Green Wall Conference," said
Ghazouani.
Ghazouani stressed that
it would “enable our countries, in accessing the
necessary funds, to increase local investments
within the framework of the five pillars adopted
and to strengthen the capacities of the national
agencies of the Great Green Wall. In this
context, I would like to suggest the
establishment, in each of our countries, of a
biodiversity Fund into which we will contribute
a portion of the resources resulting from the
cancellation of our debts. Cancellation that we
call for with all our
hearts."
“Pandemic recovery is our
chance to change course. With smart policies and
the right investments, we can chart a path that
brings health to all, revives economies and
builds resilience. Innovations in energy and
transport can steer a sustainable recovery and
an economic and social transformation.
Nature-based solutions – such as Africa’s Great
Green Wall – are especially promising,” said António
Guterres, UN Secretary
General.
Since its inception in
2007, the Great Green Wall (GGW) has partnered
with stakeholders to regreen the region and
create an 8,000 km long world wonder involving
at least 11 countries and to achieve the
Sustainable Development Goals by
2030.
The GGW Initiative, now well
into its second decade, is an African-led
flagship program demonstrating how to harness
the power of nature to provide policy solutions
to multiple and complex environmental threats,
such as land degradation, desertification,
drought, climate change, biodiversity loss,
poverty and food insecurity,
simultaneously.
The GGW has
inspired many African countries which are now
associated with it and its work is contributing
to the implementation of the post-2020 global
biodiversity framework. GGW is among the iconic
global campaigns targeted for completion during
the Decade of Ecosystem Restoration ending in
2030.
The virtual 'One Planet
Summit' for biodiversity held on January 11,
2021 in Paris was an opportunity to raise the
level of ambition of the international community
in protecting nature, while responding to the
new questions raised by the COVID-19 pandemic as
we collectively mobilize resources to build back
better and improve livelihoods in the Sahel
through the Great Green Wall
Initiative.
The summit is
mobilizing resources, heads of government and
partners as well as leaders of international
organizations, financial institutions, the
business sector and NGOs to make commitments for
concrete action to preserve and restore
biodiversity, to make strong new announcements
and to launch transformational initiatives for
nature.
_____________________________ENDS______________________________
NOTE
TO EDITORS
* President Macron will
announce the final figure raised by the Summit
at about 14:00hrs GMT.
Background
Information about the Great Green Wall and the
Great Green Accelerator is provided in the
press kit.
This press release
was revised and reflects a new quote issued by
the
Secretary-General.
Interviewees:
1.
UNCCD Executive Secretary, Mr. Ibrahim Thiaw.
Email request to: pr...@unccd.int
2.
Louise Baker, Managing Director, Global
Mechanism of UNCCD. Email: jbi...@unccd.int
Use
the Request
for Interview Form available
here to get a rapid
response.
Links to
Resources
1. UNCCD Website – Information
on the Great Green Wall: The
Great Green Wall Initiative | UNCCD
2.
Great Green Wall Website: https://www.greatgreenwall.org/about-great-green-wall
About
The Great Green Wall
The Great
Green Wall Initiative is regreening the Sahel,
restoring degraded lands and providing decent
livelihoods for its people, snaking the Sahel
all the way from Senegal in the West to Djibouti
in the East, restoring degraded lands and
providing jobs and opportunities for millions of
people in Africa.
The Great Green
Wall is an African-led movement launched in 2007
by leaders from the Sahelian countries, with an
epic ambition to grow an 8,000 km natural wonder
of the world across the entire width of
Africa.
In a post COVID
context where Sahelian countries are struggling
with budgets and funding, this accelerator will
help meet financial requirements and turbo
charge the achievement of its goals.
To
complete the GGW, it is estimated that USD 33
billion US dollars of investment – from private,
national and international sources will be
needed.
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The United
Nations Convention to Combat Desertification
(UNCCD) is an international agreement on good
land stewardship. Through partnerships, the
Convention’s 197 Parties set up robust systems
to manage land degradation and drought promptly
and effectively. Good land stewardship based on
a sound policy and science helps integrate and
accelerate the achievement of the Sustainable
Development Goals, builds resilience to climate
change and prevents biodiversity loss. Land also
plays a key role in the prevention,
preparedness, response, and recovery phases of
the COVID-19 pandemic, securing rural
livelihoods and creating green jobs, supporting
community resilience and maintaining the
sustainable delivery of ecosystem
services. | | |
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Sent: Monday, January 11, 2021
4:58 PM
Subject: Great Green Wall at One
Planet Summit for Biodiversity
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