Africa's future is being shaped in its drylands. Desertification, land degradation and drought are undermining food systems, rural economies, water security and social cohesion. Yet restoring degraded land can become a powerful driver of resilience, prosperity and hope.
Land restoration is therefore a strategic priority. It supports food production, conserves biodiversity, enhances carbon storage, creates rural jobs and stimulates local economies.
From Degradation to Opportunity
Up to 40% of the world's land is already degraded, affecting more than 3.2 billion people. By 2050, drought could affect three out of every four people. In Africa, climate change, deforestation, overgrazing and unsustainable resource use are eroding the productivity of agricultural and pastoral systems. Yet every dollar invested in restoration can generate between seven and thirty dollars in returns, making land restoration an investment that must be scaled up.
The solutions are well known: assisted natural regeneration, agroforestry, sustainable rangeland management, water harvesting, climate-smart agriculture and participatory land-use planning. These approaches help retain water, protect soils, restore vegetation and reduce pressure on forests.
The Great Green Wall: A Continental Promise
At the continental level, this vision is embodied in the Great Green Wall Initiative. Originally conceived as a belt of trees stretching across the Sahel, from the southern edge of the Sahara to the Horn of Africa, it has evolved into a broader initiative promoting sustainable land management, ecosystem restoration, resilient livelihoods and green growth. Its ambition is to restore 100 million hectares of land, create 10 million green jobs and sequester 250 million tonnes of carbon by 2030.
The African Union's Great Green Wall Strategy and the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration provide the framework to translate these commitments into coordinated action and tangible results.
Why Financing Is the Bridge Between Ambition and Impact
Turning this promise into results requires more than ambition. Countries need predictable and sustained financing. This agenda aligns closely with the African Development Bank's priorities, including resilient infrastructure, renewable energy, climate-smart agriculture, water security, value chain development and green competitiveness.
The Bank is helping transform restoration priorities into bankable projects, mobilise capital and connect land restoration with investments in water, energy, agriculture and livelihoods.
The Great Green Wall alone requires at least $33 billion by 2030. While commitments now exceed $19 billion, translating these pledges into accessible financing has been slow.
Closing this financing gap requires well-structured projects, greater use of blended finance and financing instruments tailored to the realities of countries and local communities. In this context, the Southern Africa Great Green Wall Accelerator, approved by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), will support the Initiative across the sixteen member states of the Southern African Development Community (SADC). The African Development Bank will serve as the GEF implementing agency, while the Global Mechanism of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) will act as the implementation partner. Together, they will support regional coordination, develop a costed investment plan and prepare bankable projects covering water, energy, ecosystems, resilient infrastructure, sustainable agriculture and inclusive development.
With stronger coordination and a better-equipped Pan-African Agency of the Great Green Wall, the Initiative can become a flagship example of Africa-led green transformation.
The Bank is contributing to strengthening the Agency's institutional and technical capacity through technical assistance, monitoring systems and support for resource mobilisation. This assistance is designed to reinforce the Agency's mandate, improve coordination among countries and partners, prepare bankable projects and accelerate implementation on the ground.
Aligning the Bank's Portfolio with Africa's COP17 Negotiating Priorities
These priorities are already reflected across the Bank's portfolio. The Gender-Transformative Resilience to Drought Project in Southern Africa's Transition States, implemented in Madagascar, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, combines climate adaptation, gender equality and investment mobilisation to protect vulnerable communities.
Support to the Pan-African Agency of the Great Green Wall, through the Transition Support Facility, is strengthening institutional capacity in Eritrea, Mali, Niger, Sudan and Chad.
This work is complemented by Phase II of the Programme to Strengthen Resilience to Food and Nutrition Insecurity in the Sahel (P2-P2RS), supported by the Bank, which helps communities across the Sahel and West Africa increase agricultural productivity, strengthen value chains and adapt to climate change. Results have been significant, including more than 12,000 hectares of land rehabilitated, 176 water harvesting structures constructed, 35 nurseries established, over 512,000 seedlings produced, more than 2,000 hectares reforested, 1,228 kilometres of firebreaks created and over 7,000 improved cookstoves distributed.
Communities at the Centre
Beyond financing instruments and projects, success will ultimately be measured in villages, watersheds, farms and grazing lands. Communities are not passive beneficiaries; they are the driving force behind restoration.
Women's land rights are particularly important. Women play a central role in natural resource value chains, yet they continue to face limited access to land, finance, technology and decision-making processes.
The Towards Climate-Resilient Shea Communities in Burkina Faso and Togo project demonstrates how the shea sector can become a catalyst for climate adaptation, income generation and women's economic empowerment. The sector supports around 16 million women across 21 African countries and spans nearly 275 million hectares. The project is reducing the vulnerability of 7,500 women collectors and processors and more than 30,000 beneficiaries, while strengthening beekeeping, shea parklands, women's cooperatives, energy-efficient practices, biodiversity conservation and landscape resilience.
From COP Commitments to Implementation
These experiences must now help shape the global policy agenda. The seventeenth Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, to be held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, from 17 to 28 August 2026 under the theme "Restore the Land. Restore the Hope.", must deliver a clear message: the time has come to move from commitments to implementation.
For Africa, land restoration is simultaneously an issue of climate adaptation, food security, biodiversity conservation, job creation, gender equality, peace and sovereignty.
COP17 also forms part of a pivotal year for the three Rio Conventions, alongside the biodiversity COP in Yerevan and the climate COP in Antalya. This convergence offers an opportunity to position land restoration at the heart of the nexus between Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN), the goals of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and countries' Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). The Riyadh-Ulaanbaatar Action Agenda provides a practical pathway to connect national priorities with the Great Green Wall, community-based solutions and innovative financing.
A Future Rooted in Restored Landscapes
The future of Africa's land is not predetermined. Land degradation can deepen vulnerability, but restoration can create a pathway towards prosperity, stability and dignity.
By recognising land as productive infrastructure, ecological capital and a foundation for social cohesion, Africa can transform its most fragile landscapes into engines of opportunity. Restoring land means investing in communities, protecting nature and building a more resilient form of growth. It is a choice for a stronger, greener and more confident Africa.
Desertification webpage: https://www.afdb.org/fr/themes-et-secteurs/themes/desertification-et-degradation-des-terres
The Bank at COP17: https://www.afdb.org/en/news-and-events/events/african-development-bank-group-advance-africas-land-restoration-and-drought-resilience-agenda-unccd-cop17-96126
About the author: Dr. Arona Soumaré is the Chief Climate Change and Green Growth Regional Specialist for West Africa at the African Development Bank Group. A leading expert in environmental governance, he leads the Bank's strategic engagement across the three Rio Conventions and the Great Green Wall Initiative.
