New York,
22 September 2019 – On the eve of the
UN Climate Action Summit, global leaders from
government, business and civil society are
issuing an urgent call to action to grow an
8000km natural wonder of the world across the
entire width of the African
continent.
The Great Green Wall, an
African-led movement, aims to, at once, drive
forward climate-smart solutions and bring back
life to degraded landscapes in order to provide
food security, jobs and thriving new economies
for the communities living in Africa’s Sahel
region. An estimated 15% of the Wall is already
underway.
Influential leaders from
business, politics, media, the film and music
industries will gather at Goals House in New
York on Sunday, 22 September, to spotlight the
Great Green Wall as a practical, low-cost
nature-based solution responding to the global
climate emergency.
Participants are
expected to call on governments, civil society
and business to join a growing global movement
to make the Great Green Wall a reality by
2030.
Jim Pisani, Global Brand President,
Timberland, is expected to announce Timberland’s
new commitment to the Great Green Wall
initiative, as an example of how businesses are
investing in this global
movement.
Fernando Meirelles, Academy
Nominated Director of City of God, and Executive
Producer of
The Great Green Wall
feature documentary, and Hamzat Lawal, the
Nigerian youth activist, are among the
speakers.
The event will also feature
musical performances by Songhoy Blues, Waje and
Grammy-winning artist Ricky Kej as well as clips
from the upcoming feature documentary titled,
The Great Green Wall (Directed by Jared
P. Scott), produced by MAKE Waves in association
with the United Nations Convention to Combat
Desertification (UNCCD).
Ibrahim Thiaw,
Executive Secretary of the UNCCD is convening
the event, which is jointly being organized by
the UNCCD and Connect4Climate - World Bank Group
represented at the event by Juergen Voegele,
Global Director of the World Bank’s Climate
Change Group.
The Sahel – where the Great
Green Wall is taking root – is a political
hotspot. Nearly 80% of the land in this region
is degraded, 33 million people are currently
food insecure and temperatures are expected by
rise by as much as 3-5 degrees by 2050. The most
pressing challenges that humanity will face this
century are already evident here, from food and
water shortages, to climate change, drought,
migration, and international
terrorism.
The Great Green Wall is often
cast as a green belt stretching across the
entire width of Africa from Dakar to Djibouti.
But it is much, much more. It is a
people-centered movement to restore the health
of the Sahel’s eco-system and natural resources
in order to build the resilience to drought of
the communities living here, enhance their food
security and empower them to generate new and
sustainable income streams.
The Great
Green Wall was launched a decade ago by the
African Union, with the support of many partners
that include UNCCD, the World Bank, the Global
Environment Facility and the European
Commission.
Globally, 3 out of every 4
hectares of land have already been transformed
from their natural state, putting nearly 1
million species on the path to extinction.
Partners will underscore the global nature of
the Wall as a symbol for humanity overcoming its
greatest threat – our rapidly degrading natural
world.
Growing the Great Green Wall shows
that if we work with nature, even in challenging
places such as the Sahel, we can overcome
adversity together, and build a better world for
generations to
come.
(ends)
QuotesIbrahim
Thiaw, Executive Secretary, UN
Convention to Combat Desertification:
“The
Great Green Wall is a truly inspirational
initiative, which is growing urgent solutions in
the face of the 21st Century’s greatest
challenges.” Juergen
Voegele, Global Director, Climate
Change, World Bank Group:
“We are pleased to
support the Great Green Wall, a tremendous
example of how we can fight poverty by
revitalizing degraded land through climate-smart
practices.”Jim
Pisani, Global Brand President,
Timberland:
“As a brand pursuing a better
future for our planet, Timberland is proud to
join the Great Green Wall movement, which we see
as crucial in supporting communities on the very
frontline of the global climate emergency and
building a more sustainable and equitable
future.” Timberland’s support of
the Great Green Wall is part of the brand’s
commitment to plant 50 million trees worldwide
by 2025.
To learn more about the
Great Green Wall visit:
www.greatgreenwall.orgPlease
highlight the initiative using the
#GreatGreenWall and tag @GreenWallAfrica on all
social
channels.
Notes to
EditorsThe
Great Green Wall feature
documentary premiered at Giornate degli Autori,
the Venice Film Festival, in August. It will
premiere theatrically worldwide in Spring 2020,
following a number of major film festival
appearances. The first single from the Great
Green Wall music project, titled
Africa
Yeah! will be launched in the Fall. A
playlist of tracks featuring music from the
Sahel region will be launched in Spring
2020.
About the UNCCD
The UNCCD is an international
agreement on good land stewardship. It helps
people, communities and countries to create
wealth, grow economies and secure enough food
and water and energy, by ensuring land users
have an enabling environment for sustainable
land management. Through partnerships, the
Convention’s 197 Parties set up robust systems
to manage 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.
For further details
please contact: Alexander Asen, +44
7961047706 (mobile),
aa...@unccd.int 
