(3 minutes read)
- In Mauritania, inundating desert is threatening homes and farming fields. To checkmate that or at least slowdown the process, residents are planting a “Great Green Wall”
- The aim is to erect a green wall across the vast Sahel region, which is always challenged by the lack of rain
- Local people say that since 2018, rains have become rare. People have been using pumps, particularly solar activated ones in palm groves.
In Mauritania, inundating desert is threatening homes and farming fields. To checkmate that or at least slowdown the process, residents are planting a “Great Green Wall”. The aim is to erect a green wall across the vast Sahel region, which is always challenged by the lack of rain.
Local people say that since 2018, rains have become rare. People have been using pumps, particularly solar activated ones in palm groves. It is through this method that they are finding water for their survival and for agricultural purposes. Extreme weather forced local people to come out with their own solutions. For protecting palm trees from wind, farmers surround the palm tree with a small hole, then fill it with water and cover the holes with blankets. Only 4% of the grand idea of green wall has been achieved so far.
Farmers aver that it’s an integrated rural development program that combines both the objectives of preserving the environment, and the objectives of setting up rural development poles, so as to be able to improve the living conditions of rural populations, especially the most vulnerable populations. The project was launched in 2007 in Mauritania. Now the concept of Green Wall is emulated by more than 20 countries across Africa. This process will help reclaim or restore a huge tract of land and make them cultivable. Experts maintain that more than 100 million hectares of land can be restored by this process.
