What China's Great Green Wall can teach the world
3 hours ago
- #reforestation
- #climate adaptation
- #desertification
- The Great Green Wall of China is a large-scale reforestation project in northern China to combat desertification, with forest cover nearly tripling from 1978 to 2023.
- The project's success is attributed to long-term strategies, predictable funding, and adaptive learning, such as moving beyond tree-planting area as the sole success metric.
- Challenges included early planting of ill-suited species, but innovations like combining vegetation with renewable energy facilities have improved outcomes.
- Africa's Great Green Wall is struggling with funding and progress, falling short of its 2030 target, partly due to reliance on inconsistent international donor finance.
- Lessons from China for Africa include ensuring stable funding, testing interventions at small scales, and treating land restoration as a critical infrastructure investment.