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“Some of his methods were, let’s say, ‘empirical’, but there is no disputing the vision and ambition,” Ouédraogo says. “He never missed an opportunity to stress that however poor Burkina Faso may be, it had a purpose and a mission. Sadly, he did not have a chance to carry it out.” Sankara’s pioneering environmentalism was not entirely abandoned after his death, but the impetus and urgency vanished. “He would ride his bicycle incognito to visit people’s homes and discuss trees,” Ouédraogo recalls. “It’s that kind of enthusiasm that went missing after he was gone.” No to prêt-à-porter, yes to bespoke Sankara was perhaps most insightful in his belief that the “fight against the desert'' would only bear fruit if local communities were empowered and invested with the responsibility to improve their lot and that of their children. For this reason, he argued, development of the Sahel region must necessarily be African-led and community-led. “No to ready-to-wear aid, yes to bespoke aid,” was one of the many slogans coined by the staunch anti-imperialist, whose antics irked the former colonial power, France. Ouédraogo, a 20-year veteran of the UN Development Programme, says the same concern underpins the Great Green Wall, a vastly ambitious but unsung project led by the African Union with support from international donors. “When I joined the UNPD, donor countries would say, ‘You’re only getting the money if you do so and so’. They did not get the communities involved and interested, and rode roughshod over local specificities,” he says. “Fortunately, that’s changed now. Investments are focused on local needs and expertise.” When the Great Green Wall was launched, Ouédraogo worked with international charity Tree Aid to help restore degraded land in some of the poorest parts of the country. This involved fostering new techniques to improve water conservation, increase yields in a sustainable way, and find alternative fuels to wood. Of course, it also involved planting, nursing and protecting trees, from the mighty baobab to the supple moringa, a drought-resistant plant sometimes referred to as a “miracle tree” because of its nutritious and pharmacological properties. “Every action is based on local needs, assessments and expertise,” Ouédraogo explains. “Local actors are responsible for its implementation – otherwise, it just doesn’t work.” Healing ecosystems Tree Aid was set up in 1987, the year of Sankara’s assassination, in response to famine in Ethiopia. It now operates in several countries of the Sahel, including Burkina Faso’s neighbours Mali and Niger. Its chief executive, Tom Skirrow, says the charity has long found it difficult to push its work up the agenda of international leaders and donors. “It’s important that the Great Green Wall is African-led and inspiring a grassroots movement across the continent. But, as a result, international leaders and donors tend to take a back-seat and to date haven't engaged in a meaningful way,” he says. “In this respect, we’re delighted to see growing momentum for support and investment in this epic movement,” he adds, referring to the pledges made at the Paris summit.
The $14.326billion funding announced at #OnePlanetSummit for #GreatGreenWall must go to the grassroots organisations communities who are delivering it on the ground. The @GreenWallAfrica will only be acheived by 2030 with the hard work of millions of rural people in the #Sahel pic.twitter.com/bB3vWJGcb0 Tree Aid (@TREEAID) January 11, 2021
Tree Aid’s CEO is also thrilled by the start of the UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration (2021-30), a global initiative aimed at strengthening cooperation to restore damaged ecosystems and thereby safeguard biodiversity, food security and water supplies. The 10-year project has opened with the world in the throes of the coronavirus pandemic – a timely and ominous reminder of the direct link between biodiversity loss and vital threats to humanity. >> ‘Humanity is bullying nature – and we will pay the price,’ WWF chief says The UN says around two billion hectares of degraded lands worldwide have potential for ecosystem restoration. Most of the rehabilitation work could take the form of “mosaic restoration”, in which forests are combined with protected areas, sustainable agriculture, water bodies and human settlements. That is precisely the model envisioned for the Great Green Wall, but progress has been frustratingly slow. According to a status report published last September, the scheme has covered only 4 percent of its initial target area despite being more than halfway towards its 2030 completion date. The figure rises to 15 percent when including other initiatives, including a vast reforestation programme in Ethiopia, which are now part of an expanded Great Green Wall. “Either way, it’s clearly not enough to ensure the Great Green Wall fulfils its ambition for the millions of people living on the frontline of the climate crisis,” says Skirrow. “But it was always going to take time to get started. The skills and tools are in place to scale up, now we need the funds to drive it forward.” Tree Aid's chief executive says the Great Green Wall has already had a huge impact on communities that are part of the programme, restoring their land, securing food supplies, and nurturing activities that are both sustainable and profitable. “Obviously, we still need to reach many more people who are living with the devastating effects of desertification,” he adds. “The Wall will only work if it’s undertaken by, literally, millions of people on the ground. It won’t work if the money gets stuck in conferences and bureaucracies. As Macron put it, ‘we need to make things simpler’, to streamline the process so the funds arrive more quickly where they are urgently needed.” ‘The roar of women’s silence’ The UK-based charity says experience has shown that people will get behind the Great Green Wall if they can identify a tangible benefit. That is especially the case for women who bear a disproportionate share of the burden in a country that is still 80 percent rural. Women “carry the other half of the sky”, Sankara would say – on top of the wood that fuels stoves and cookers and the water that feeds their families, their crops and their livestock.
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