The Economics of the Sahel Great Green Wall
The Sahel region is confronted with a severe problem of land degradation, which is jeopardizing livelihoods and stymieing efforts to eradicate food insecurity. The Great Green Wall programme is a colossal initiative designed to improve communities’ resilience and restore degraded ecosystems by planting locally suitable native trees and grasses. We evaluated the economic costs and benefits of land restoration under this programme. The results show that the average annual costs of land degradation due to land use and land cover changes in the entire Sahel region during 2001–2018 period were equal to 3 billion USD. Every USD invested into land restoration is found to yield from 1.7 USD to 2.9 USD. About 10 years are needed for all land restoration activities to reach positive benefit-cost ratios from the social perspective. The amount of investments needed for land restoration across the Sahel is estimated to be between 18–70 bln USD.
Contact
PD Dr. Alisher Mirzabaev
Phone.: +49-228-73-2891
Keywords
economics of land degradation, land restoration, Sahel
Countries
Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Sudan, South Sudan, Eritrea, and Ethiopia
Duration
2020 - 2021
Publications
Alisher Mirzabaev, Moctar Sacande, Farinaz Motlagh et al. Economics of Great Green Wall: Opportunities for improved targeting and efficiency, 22 March 2021, PREPRINT (Version 1) available at Research Square [https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-337077/v1].
Partners
Main Cooperation Partners
Main Funding Partner
- The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
- European Union via FAO
Team
- Alisher Mirzabaev
- Farinaz Motlagh
- Anastasiya Shyrokaya