The Pan African Agency of the Great Green Wall (PAAGGW)is set to contribute significantly to the achievement of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) in the second decade, 2021-2030.
The executive director of the agency, Dr. Brahim Said, said this in his address during the 8th Ordinary Session of the Council of Ministers yesterday in Abuja.
He said that the objective of the meeting is to take a decisive step in the operationalisation of the Great Green Wall through concrete achievements with high, added value and a perfect visibility on the population.
The Great Green Wall Initiative is one of the most ambitious cooperation tools for solving the environmental challenges of the Sahelian strip. Established on June 17, 2010, in N’Djamena, Chad, the PAAGGW just completed its first decade (2010-2020).
Said noted that the current decade is focused on the establishment and consolidation of the institutional, legal and organisational bases of the regional and national structures, the development of a strategic framework and implementation action plan and the mobilisation of financial resources.
“As you know, the march towards the social well-being of our populations requires initiatives that bring hope. The Great Green Wall Initiative is and remains one of them for us, the African states of the Sahara-Sahelian strip and the entire world. This initiative is both a challenge and an opportunity, given the multiple environmental and ecological issues that are becoming increasingly important and that demonstrate the need for a pooling of resources and joint efforts by countries without which we cannot succeed individually.
“The effectiveness of the achievements is linked to the significant efforts of our countries with limited means but with tangible results in the areas of restoration, development, management and conservation of natural resources as well as income-generating activities for the benefit of the communities at the grassroots level through the integrated community agricultural farms, true models of local development, to varying degrees in all the member states. Based on the constraints observed, the main constraint is the mobilisation of both internal and external resources.
“Since January 2021 and the advent of the One Planet Summit, we are reassured by the long-awaited support and mobilisation of resources by our technical and financial partners. We would like to thank each of our partners for this commitment which benefits our populations.”
In addition, the permanent secretary, Federal Ministry of Environment, Engr. Hassan Musa said the need for mobilisation of financial resources to actualise the vision of the Great Green Wall is paramount. He cited poor financial provision and mobilisation as a major obstacle to the effective and impactful implementation process of the activities of the laudable Great Green Wall Initiative.
He said the technical experts are to achieve the goals and objectives of the Great Green Wall for the Sahara and Sahel Initiative (GGWSSI) and one critical vehicle to make them realisable is financial resources.
“The recognition of the paucity of financial resources for the implementation of the Great Green Wall initiative led to the several billions of dollars pledged by a coalition of technical and financial partners (TFPs) at the 4th edition of the One Planet Summit on climate change and biodiversity held in Paris, France on January 11, 2021.
“The pragmatic efforts of GGW member countries to access these financial resources so pledged by the (TFPs) require necessary evaluation which I sincerely believe, would be the centre-stage of the deliberation of this technical committee of experts. The need to come up with well-articulated and actionable strategies for its mobilsation of these pledged financial resources is expected at the end of this technical session. This done, the development of impact and transformative programmes and projects to absorb the mobilised resources would no doubt build the resilience of the Sahelian people,” he added.
Also speaking, the director-general, National Agency for the GGW, Dr. Yusuf Bukar, noted that the meeting is to deliberate on the accomplishment, challenges and prospects in the implementation process of the Green Great Wall for the Sahara and Sahel Initiative (GGWSSI).
