By: Alieu Jallow
Green Up Gambia launched the blueprint for the Great Green Wall initiative, aimed at restoring lost natural forest cover by planting over 250 million trees and creating over one million jobs for young people across the Sahel.
During the opening ceremony, the British High Commissioner to The Gambia, Ms. Harriet King, spoke about her office’s support for journalists reporting on climate-related stories, the establishment of a seed bank at Bakau Botanical Garden, and the formation of the Gambia Environmental Alliance. She reassured the United Kingdom’s dedication to supporting initiatives addressing climate change and environmental sustainability.
“The UK government, through various programs and partnerships, continues to play a vital role in the Great Green Wall initiative across the Sahel of Africa.”
Delivering the keynote address on behalf of the Minister of Environment, Climate Change, and Natural Resources, Rohey John Majanģ, Bobo Pateh Jallow elaborated on how the Sahel is experiencing the devastating impact of climate change, including drought, food insecurity, mass migration, and conflict. He also outlined that many regions in The Gambia are prone to the devastating impacts of climate change, which have led to the loss of income and livelihoods for communities due to saline intrusion into their farms, erratic rainfall patterns, a decline in agricultural production, and severe windstorms that have even taken lives, thus viewing the Great Green Wall as a dream come true.
“Today, we are proud to announce the launch of the Great Green Wall Frontline, a new campaign that places the imagination and enterprising initiative of frontline citizens at the heart of its mission. Through citizen assemblies, community-led funds, and people-powered solutions, the Great Green Wall is being taken directly to the people it serves. Realizing the vision of the Great Green Wall requires a movement of millions, led by the custodian communities who will ultimately secure the future of this bold initiative. The Great Green Wall Frontline is a testament to the power of collective action, and together, we will ensure that our lands flourish, our communities thrive, and hope is restored.”
Maimuna Jabbie, Director of the Green Wall initiative, highlighted some of the accomplishments they have achieved over the past three years, referring to their incubator and innovation fund that identified scalable innovations in agroforestry, agriculture, and agro-processing. They established a demonstration site on an acquired 200 hectares of abandoned salt-intruded wetlands to restore mangroves, and 1-hectare seedbanks across 7 districts to propagate resilient plant species, as well as building an ecotourism hub. She indicated support for 25-50 entrepreneurs/groups per annum with funding and improved business development skills to accelerate their businesses.
“We supported schools across the GGWF to plant nurseries and become community seedbanks, involving children at a young age in the hands-on creation of new opportunities for income generation and regeneration of damaged land. We trained educators to incorporate locally appropriate climate issues into their curricula, trained and adapted schools to climate impacts, developed more resilient environments, supported pupils to launch micro-social enterprises related to agroforestry opportunities, and assisted schools in integrating sustainability, water conservation, and renewable energy into practical and educational activities,” Miss Jabbie highlighted.
On his part, The Governor of the North Bank region, Lamin Saidykhan, outlined how the devastating effects of climate change have seriously impacted his region with harsh environmental degradation realities, thus describing the Great Green Wall initiative as a beacon of hope for his people.
“The launch of the Great Green Wall blueprint holds immense significance for NBR. It not only highlights the importance of indigenous knowledge in tackling climate change but also underscores the need for tailored solutions that address the specific needs of each community. By uniting 196 villages across seven districts of NBR, we have created a platform for sharing expertise and fostering collaboration, a testament to the strength of our collective efforts,” Governor Saidykhan lamented.
The Great Green Wall is an initiative that focuses on fighting the global climate emergency and seeks to grow an 8,000km wall of trees from Senegambia to Djibouti, bringing life back to degraded landscapes, creating 10 million green jobs, restoring 100 million hectares of degraded lands, ensuring 33 million people no longer go hungry, and absorbing 250 million tonnes of carbon.
