The Great Green Wall initiative is a pan-African flagship programme of the African Union that seeks to tackle the triple challenges of desertification, climate change and loss of biodiversity. It aims to restore 100 million hectares of currently degraded land stretching across 8 000 km of Africa from west to east, sequester 250 million tons of carbon, and create 10 million green jobs by 2030 across the Sahel region (UNCCD, 2020; GGW website).

The Great Green Wall initiative is a pan-African flagship programme of the African Union that seeks to tackle the triple challenges of desertification, climate change and loss of biodiversity. It aims to restore 100 million hectares of currently degraded land stretching across 8 000 km of Africa from west to east, sequester 250 million tons of carbon, and create 10 million green jobs by 2030 across the Sahel region (UNCCD, 2020; GGW website).

The Africa Union’s Great Green Wall Initiative Strategy and ten-year Implementation Framework, drafted in December 2022, reiterates the need to facilitate collaboration between stakeholders – including strengthening linkages with the research community – to coordinate and scale actions towards achieving its goals.

To advance a transformational approach and in support of the Great Green Wall (GGW) Initiative, the GGW Accelerator and the Pan African Agency of the Great Green Wall (PAAGGW), the One GIAR ClimBeR Initiative, the Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture, along with CIFOR-ICRAF, have undertaken a study in four countries (Senegal, Mali, Ethiopia and Sudan) and hosted a series of virtual events across a wide range ot stakeholders to generate knowledge to understand key barriers to and potential solutions for accelerating impacts for the GGW.

To advance a transformational approach and in support of the Great Green Wall (GGW) Initiative, the GGW Accelerator and the Pan African Agency of the Great Green Wall (PAAGGW), the One GIAR ClimBeR Initiative, the Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture, along with CIFOR-ICRAF, have undertaken a study in four countries (Senegal, Mali, Ethiopia and Sudan) and hosted a series of virtual events across a wide range of stakeholders to generate knowledge to understand key barriers to and potential solutions for accelerating impacts for the GGW.

Studies have been undertaken within four pilot countries (Mali, Senegal, Sudan and Ethiopia), to understand how the GGW fits within national level architecture and to carry out a thorough stakeholder and engagement review and an analysis of regional policy coherence. Policy windows are also being mapped to understand GGW links to the climate agenda and identify any opportunities for engagement and alignment. The detailed study is rooted in linking emerging bottlenecks with research and practice offerings across the region.