- On average each year, Sahelian countries lost 1.7 million hectares of arable land to desertification, environmental experts told journalists.
At a news conference in the Senegalese capital Dakar, the Chairman of the Scientific Committee of the Great Green Wall project, Abdoulaye Dia said project aims to arrest desertification as well as develop the natural resources of countries.
The 11 Sahelian countries to benefit from the project are Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Chad, Niger, Mauritania, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, and Djibouti.
Initiated by President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal and Olusegun Obasanjo, the former Nigerian President, the Great Green Wall project was approved by the 8th African Union heads of state and government summit in January last year in Ethiopia. The project aims to make green again thousands of kilometres on a strip of land from Dakar to Djibouti.
President Wade had earlier emphasised the need for constant expansion of the Sahara Desert, considering the fact the limited amount of global fresh water Africa owned.
afrol News - It is called "financial inclusion", and it is a key government policy in Rwanda. The goal is that, by 2020, 90 percent of the population is to have and actively use bank accounts. And in only four years, financial inclusion has doubled in Rwanda.
afrol News - The UN's humanitarian agencies now warn about a devastating famine in Sudan and especially in South Sudan, where the situation is said to be "imploding". Relief officials are appealing to donors to urgently fund life-saving activities in the two countries.
afrol News - Fear is spreading all over West Africa after the health ministry in Guinea confirmed the first Ebola outbreak in this part of Africa. According to official numbers, at least 86 are infected and 59 are dead as a result of this very contagious disease.
afrol News - It is already a crime being homosexual in Ethiopia, but parliament is now making sure the anti-gay laws will be applied in practical life. No pardoning of gays will be allowed in future, but activist fear this only is a signal of further repression being prepared.
afrol News / Africa Renewal - Ethiopia's ambitious plan to build a US$ 4.2 billion dam in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, 40 km from its border with Sudan, is expected to provide 6,000 megawatts of electricity, enough for its population plus some excess it can sell to neighbouring countries.