Great Green Wall
Topic: World Physical Features and Natural Regions · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
The Great Green Wall is an African Union plan launched in 2007 to fight desertification in the Sahel. Desertification means good land slowly turning into desert. The plan aims to restore 100 million hectares of damaged land by 2030, across Africa from Senegal to Djibouti. It began as a line of trees. It now uses a mix of tree planting, better farming and water saving. It is behind its target (verify current).
Example
The belt runs along the Sahel, the partly dry strip south of the Sahara that gets 200-600 mm of rain a year. This area was hit by drought from 1967 to 1977. India has a similar national goal under the UNCCD, the UN body on desertification: to restore 26 million hectares of land by 2030.
Don't confuse with
- Great Wall of China: an ancient defensive wall, not a land-restoration project.