COP17: AfDB backs Great Green Wall revival as Africa demands faster action
A session at the 17th Conference of the Parties (COP-17) of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. PHOTO/UNCCD.
By PATRICK MAYOYO
The African Development Bank has committed to work with partners to mobilise funds for the Great Green Wall Initiative (GGWI) during the 17th Conference of the Parties (COP-17) of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification in Ulaanbaatar.
The commitment came on 24 August as African ministers, development partners and international organisations participating in an event titled Scaling the Great Green Wall through Continental Integration and the AU GGWI Strategy (2024-2034) and co-organised by the African Union (AU), the African Development Bank and the UN, voiced calls to scale up GGWI.
Participants also welcomed the AU’s adoption in 2024 of the Great Green Wall Strategy and Ten-Year Implementation Framework (2024–2034), which provides a roadmap to expand the initiative into a continental platform for land restoration and ...
COP17 enters final stretch as finance, water talks intensify
Finance and water emerge as defining issues at COP17. PHOTO/UNCCD.
By PATRICK MAYOYO
ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia
Negotiators, ministers, scientists and civil society leaders have entered a decisive phase of global talks aimed at tackling desertification, land degradation and drought, as the 17th Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) moves into its final week in the Mongolian capital.
With only days remaining before the conference closes on 28 August, delegates from the UNCCD’s 197 Parties are intensifying negotiations on some of the most politically sensitive and technically complex issues confronting the international community, including land restoration financing, drought resilience, water security, migration, private sector engagement and scientific cooperation.
The summit, being held under the theme “Restoring Land. Restoring Hope.”, is widely viewed as a critical test of the world’s commitment to re...