At the 30th UN Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Belém, Brazil, development partners urged a major scale-up in financing to accelerate delivery of the Great Green Wall’s 2030 targets—one of Africa’s most ambitious climate and land restoration efforts.
Led by the African Union and supported by member states and global partners, the Great Green Wall aims to restore 100 million hectares of degraded land, sequester 250 million tonnes of carbon, and create 10 million jobs across 11 Sahelian countries, from Senegal to Djibouti. The initiative stands at the intersection of climate action, economic opportunity, and community resilience.
“Support from countries and institutions has been strong, including from multilateral development banks, but the financing gap remains significant,” said Ibrahim Sow, Special Adviser to the President of Senegal on environmental matters.
Sow chaired a COP30 session focused on turning climate ambition into action for land, nature, and people. The discussion centred on unlocking large-scale funding—particularly private capital—and expanding innovative financing tools to move the initiative from momentum to measurable impact.
Global backing for the Great Green Wall gained visibility in January 2021, when €19 billion in pledges were announced at a Paris roundtable held alongside the One Planet Summit on biodiversity. One of the initiative’s major partners committed to mobilising approximately $6.5 billion through existing programmes to support implementation on the ground.
“Fifteen years on, the Great Green Wall has moved from vision to delivery,” said Garba, former Nigerien Minister of the Environment. “Millions of hectares have been restored and thousands of green jobs created. But meeting the 2030 goals will require deeper cooperation among African governments, development partners, and the private sector.”
From Mali, technical adviser Sékou Koné highlighted the importance of strong political leadership, investment-ready legal frameworks, and a stable economic environment to attract new partners. He also pointed to emerging global mechanisms—such as the Tropical Forest Forever Facility launched at COP30—as opportunities African countries should actively position themselves to access. Strengthened South–South cooperation, he added, will be key.
Across the session, speakers underscored a shared priority: building stronger institutions. Scaling up staffing, governance, and operational capacity is essential to ensure implementing bodies can deliver results efficiently and at scale.
Al-Hamndou Dorsouma, Manager for Climate and Green Growth at a leading multilateral development institution, reaffirmed long-term commitment to the Great Green Wall.
“Public concessional funding alone is not enough,” he said. “Africa must also build a strong pipeline of bankable land restoration and climate adaptation projects to unlock blended finance, carbon markets, green bonds, and climate funds.”
He highlighted the Climate Action Window launched in 2023, which mobilised more than $450 million and supported dozens of climate projects in its first year, including initiatives across Great Green Wall countries. Stronger coordination among partners, he noted, will be critical to maximise impact and reduce duplication.
The session concluded with a clear message: lasting success will depend on empowering local communities, strengthening national institutions, and ensuring African countries can directly access climate finance. With the right investments and partnerships, the Great Green Wall can continue to grow—not just as a climate solution, but as a powerful engine for jobs, resilience, and shared prosperity across the continent.
