Beijing, 16 April (TDI): On April 13-14, Beijing held an online webinar on the construction of the “African Great Green Wall Initiative” to promote Sino-African climate cooperation. Representatives of China and Africa attended the webinar. The webinar was co-hosted by China’s National Forestry and Grassland Administration and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).
During the webinar, officers and experts from China and African countries of the Great Green Wall Initiative discussed China’s anti-desertification experiences and how can the experiences benefit Africa.
AFRICA’S GREAT GREEN WALL INITIATIVE
The Great Green Wall Initiative (GGW) is a significant regional environmental plan in the African continent. The initiative aims to create an 8,000km world of natural wonder throughout Africa. When completed, the Great Green Wall will become the largest living structure all over the world. Furthermore, with such wonders, the GGW will be able to restore 100 million hectares of currently degraded land, sequester 250 million tons of carbon, and create 10 million green jobs by 2030.
Moreover, GGW does not only focus on ecological restoration but also has a long-term plan for human welfare. Undoubtedly, natural remediation can provide local people with a better food security situation, and higher living quality. Thus, millions of people living will have more chances to get rid of poverty without leaving their native place.
Born in the year 2007, the GGW has succeeded in achieving 15% of its final goal. Until now, the initiative has already taken root in the Sahel region. The Sahel region is located on the southern edge of the Sahara Desert, one of the world’s poorest regions.
SINO-AFRICAN COOPERATION ON THE GGW INITIATIVE
Sino-Africa cooperation in environmental protection and climate change has a long history. As time goes by, bilateral cooperation becomes more detailed, more diversified, and more practical. Such development cannot succeed without various mechanisms. In particular, the implementation of the GGW initiative has benefited a lot from Sino-African cooperation.
The History
For instance, the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) is a typical mechanism for China and African countries to promote collaboration on the GGW initiative. The 1st FOCAC Ministerial Conference was held in Beijing in the year 2000. Both sides emphasized environmental protection in economic cooperation at that time. Afterward, “environmental protection” appeared as a separate content module in the action plan for the first time in 2006. Following the proposal of the GGW initiative, the subsequent 4th FOCAC conference included an independent cooperation content on climate change in the module of “environmental protection”.
More practical and financial cooperation appeared in the following years. In the year 2015, China proposed to set up a 20 billion RMB South-South Cooperation Fund on Climate Change issues. Also, China-Africa Green Development Cooperation Plan came up three years later.
Current status
Sino-African climate cooperation reached a new height in 2021. The 2035 Version for Sino-African Cooperation is the first medium and long-term practical cooperation plan. Besides, the two sides published the first independent outcome document on bilateral climate cooperation, the Declaration on China-Africa Cooperation on Combating Climate Change. Specifically, the GGW initiative was highly emphasized in the declaration. With such a trend, the future climate cooperation between China and Africa is worth looking forward to.
