FAO Forestry:
1.Desertification and land degradation are very serious challenges. They lead to hunger and poverty.
FAO Forestry:
2.Over the next decade, 50 million people may be displaced – the result of climate change and the depletion of natural resources.
FAO Forestry:
3.But recent successes show that land degradation is not yet irreversible.
FAO Forestry:
4.The Great Green Wall initiative can be a game-changer for Africa – boosting food security, creating jobs and helping people adapt to climate change.
FAO Forestry:
5.The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization has joined the initiative and is engaged in land restoration across the Sahel.
FAO Forestry:
6.People are at the heart of FAO’s Action Against Desertification programme.
FAO Forestry:
7.Restoration efforts focus on supporting livelihoods, which mainly depend on farming and livestock.
FAO Forestry:
8.Plants are essential for rural communities – trees, shrubs and grasses provide everything, from food to fodder and from medicine to construction material.
FAO Forestry:
9.Plants also bring economic opportunities. Fodder grass sells wells on the market, for example.
FAO Forestry:
10.Quality seeds of the most useful native plant species are used and made available by national forest seed centres for large-scale restoration.
FAO Forestry:
11.To help communities become self-supporting capacity development is crucial.
FAO Forestry:
12.Cleaning improves the purity of seeds. It gives a better chance to grow quality seedlings in the nursery.
FAO Forestry:
13.Seedlings are planted in traditional half-moons along with seeds of shrubs and grasses on the border for protection and because they are useful too.
FAO Forestry:
14.Plants grow better in half-moons because they retain rain water and keep moisture in the soil.
FAO Forestry:
15.In 2016 Action Against Desertification plans to restore 10,000 hectares of degraded land.
FAO Forestry:
16.Working together on successful sustainable land management practices can bring a better life to people across Africa's Great Green Wall.
FAO Forestry:
Action Against Desertification