The Sahel region of Africa is demarcated ecologically as a transition zone between the dry Sahara Desert in the north and the humid Sudanian savannah to the south, with the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the Red Sea to the east. The Sahel covers about 1.2 million square miles across parts of numerous countries; for the purposes of this activity, the countries included are Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad (the G5). The G5 countries that comprise the semi-arid Sahel region are some of the least developed countries in the world, with multiple overlapping challenges resulting from a history of colonialism, conflict, and resulting political and economic instability. The semi-arid region is beset by poverty, a history of violent conflict and population displacement, food insecurity, environmental challenges such as desertification, and high vulnerability to climate change that impacts virtually all social, economic, and environmental sectors.

Land degradation, defined as the loss of land productivity in social, economic and environmental terms, is a major challenge for the Sahel region. The most visible and significant evidence of land degradation in the region is the expansion of the Sahara Desert into the once-green Sahelian countries. Efforts to halt and reverse land degradation and the decline in land productivity are urgently needed. Methods to combat land degradation include avoidance of degradation in the first place, reducing degradation, and restoring already degraded areas.

• Avoidance: the avoidance of land degradation is centered on maintaining already healthy ecosystems and landscapes to protect them from the threats (e.g., unsustainable agricultural or grazing practices) that cause degradation. Establishing and properly stewarding protected areas is an example of an avoidance measure.
• Reduction: the reduction of degradation involves slowing the degradation process down once it has started. Interventions such as agroforestry, conservation practices on farms and in agricultural areas, and more sustainable grazing can reduce degradation.
• Restoration: the restoration of degraded lands involves more degraded lands that require more significant interventions to develop a healthy productive state. Restoration aims to reverse the damage of land degradation through interventions such as reforestation and afforestation. These areas can then be protected to avoid future degradation through interventions such as establishing protected areas.

Landscape management was a significant recommendation to address both climate and land degradation in the recent Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) for the G5 in the Sahel. In the landscapes sector, the CCDR noted that at the landscape level, “...climate change impacts require coordinated actions among environment, agriculture, infrastructure, and water for a resilient development path.” The CCDR recommends various actions, including mapping land use and identifying investments that would maximize natural capital and productive use through an integrated landscape management approach that centers sustainability. The CCDR also recommends policy reform and investments to expand re-greening efforts such as the Great Green Wall Initiative. Recommendations to strengthen the landscape management approach include increasing local community engagement and participation, improving governance, and increasing sustainability such as through capacity building and investments that increase resilience to climate change.

The Great Green Wall Initiative

As the Sahara desert increasingly encroaches on the Sahel region, land that was once green and productive is turning to compacted desert that cannot sustain crops or vegetation and is more prone to erosion, leading to even more encroachment of the desert. The consequences of this land degradation have included greater food insecurity, migration to cities, and the loss of biodiversity. The Great Green Wall Initiative, established by the African Union in 2007, aims to reverse this pattern of land degradation and its consequences by created a green wall of vegetation across Africa. The goal of the Initiative is to restore 100 million hectares of degraded land and create 10 million jobs by 2030. Over 22 African countries are included, including the countries of the Sahel region.