Dakar - A high-level scientific workshop on the Great Green Wall (GGW) was organized on May 2 by the Dakar-based NEPAD Agency office. Scientists, development partners, focal points of the GGW and civil society gathered in the Senegalese capital around the theme, “Status of Research around the Great Green Wall - Opportunities and Challenges”

In his opening remarks, Ambassador Amadou Diallo representing the NEPAD Agency highlighted the importance of the Great Green Wall initiative as a major flagship programme of the African Union and NEPAD's Environmental Action Plan (EAP). He also highlighted the benefit of the initiative for rural populations across the continent. The programme is considered as “the most innovative and ambitious intervention undertaken by African States for ecosystem restoration,” he said.

The Executive Secretary of the Pan African Agency of the GGW, Professor Abdoulaye Dia indicated that the objective of the workshop was to create a platform of engagement between scientific and technical experts on the Great Green Wall.

The forum was also aimed at taking stock of the results of research on the GGW; building strategic thinking on monitoring, knowledge management and communication of the project GMV; encouraging community partners to accelerate and increase support to the GGW initiative in order to strengthen the implementation of commitments to the sustainable development goals; encouraging the promotion and funding of research and direct them to subjects in tune with the issues of sustainable development and strengthening the capacity of focal points to meet their scientific knowledge management needs for better land and water management practices, and resilience to climate change.

African and international scientists presented in turn the results of theirresearch work on the GGW. This was followed by a panel discussion on topicsrelated to governance, coordination and monitoring of the GGW Initiative, funding for research, socio-economic impacts and the scientific basis of the GGW.

A special appreciation was extended also to partners who assisted in making the workshop a success. These included the African Union, the French Embassy, the Pan African Agency and national agencies of the GMV, CIRAD, ISRA.

Source: NEPAD