Climate

The Great Green Wall was launched in 2007 as an African-led initiative spanning 8,000 km from Senegal to Djibouti.

By 2030 the initiative aims to restore 100 million hectares, create 10 million jobs and sequester 250 million tonnes of carbon.

Nearly 18 percent of the Great Green Wall is complete, with close to 18 million hectares restored.

Only about 4 percent of the original tree-planting target had been achieved by 2020.

Completing the Wall is estimated to need 33 billion dollars, and donors pledged about 14.3 billion dollars in accelerated funding at a 2021 summit.

The 100 million hectare target will be reached by 2030.

On 10 September 2024, about 40 percent of Maiduguri was flooded after a breach of the nearby Alau Dam.

According to OCHA, 37 people died and 58 were injured.

Close to 400,000 displaced people registered in about 30 camps within a week.

More than N309 million was disbursed for rehabilitating the Alau Dam between 2018 and 2024, in 13 tranches to different companies.

Satellite images show the dam was already badly damaged from October 2022, with more than half the structure wrecked by November 2022 and no sign of restoration by February 2023.

The Congo Basin is the largest remaining net carbon sink in the tropics, removing an average of 160 million tons of CO2 equivalent per year between 2015 and 2024.