The Nigerien government and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) signed a funding agreement on Thursday in Niamey, allocating over 17 billion CFA francs to strengthen the resilience of Africa’s Great Green Wall initiative.
The agreement was signed by Justice Minister Alio Daouda, acting on behalf of Foreign Minister Bakary Yaou Sangaré, and Genot Luc, the FAO’s acting representative in Niger.
The project, titled “Strengthening Resilience of the African Great Green Wall (SURAGGWA),” sets ambitious goals of restoring over 265,000 hectares of degraded land, establishing over 700 community nurseries and training more than 1,000 local groups in land restoration and sustainable natural resource management.
It also aims to significantly reduce CO₂ emissions over the course of its implementation, aligning with broader efforts to combat climate change.
SURAGGWA is part of the larger Great Green Wall Initiative—a pan-African programme involving eight Sahel-Saharan countries.
The initiative provides an integrated and multi-sectoral response to some of the region’s most pressing challenges, including land degradation, food insecurity, rural poverty, and the impacts of climate change.
ARD/te/lb/gik/APA