African Union's Great Green Wall (GGW)

How the project works

As part of the African Union's Great Green Wall initiative - an ambitious pan-African effort to grow an 8,000 km belt of trees across the Sahel - Trees for the Future supports agroforestry projects in Senegal that tackle one of the continent's most urgent environmental crises: advancing desertification. Over recent decades, the Sahel has lost vast tracts of productive land to soil degradation and drought, pushing millions into food insecurity.

TREES works directly with Senegalese farm families to design forest gardens tailored to the Sahelian climate. Drought-resistant native species form a protective canopy that reduces wind erosion, retains moisture, and rebuilds organic matter in the soil. Food crops, legumes, and cash crops are then integrated below the canopy, restoring agricultural productivity to land that was previously abandoned.

The Great Green Wall program creates immediate economic relief while building long-term ecological resilience. Participating communities report improved harvests, more stable water access, and new income from sustainably harvested forest products. The program is designed to be self-replicating: trained farmers become local extension agents who spread agroforestry knowledge to surrounding villages.