Belgium will invest €50 million to boost climate resilience in Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali and Senegal, as part of the 2022-2027 Climate in the Sahel portfolio.
The budget is aimed at the improvement of natural resource management and natural ecosystem restoration.
Restoration efforts are tied to the "Great Green Wall" initiative, a plan to restore 100 million hectares of degraded land in order to hold back the expansion of the Sahara Dessert.
“Rising temperatures and increased drought are degrading the land, as well as inappropriate farming practices and population growth. Degraded land is lifeless, with no ecological diversity. It no longer helps to combat global warming”, said Amadou Diallo, an officer working on the climate portfolio for Enabel, the Belgian development agency.
With temperatures over 36°C in the middle of the night in Niamey, the capital of Niger, Development Cooperation Minister Caroline Gennez and the Belgian delegation, on a two-day visit, witnessed the level of heat in the region once they set foot on the airport tarmac on Friday. In the morning, the thermometer passed the 40°C mark.
The challenge is a major one in Niger, since “between 100 and 120,000 hectares of land are degraded every year, at an estimated cost of $650 million a year,” said Diallo.
The Belgian contribution should therefore help to combat this disastrous situation. "We want to restore 2,500 hectares of degraded land," adds Amadou Diallo.
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Aside from the climate, Belgium is also investing in health and social protection in health (€14.5 million), education, (€8 million), the development of agropastoralism and the integration of young people (€15.6 million) and a pilot project with a global approach in Torodi (€4.5 million).
The pilot project in Torodi was formalised on Friday by Minister Gennez and it involves, among others, the training of local troops by the Belgian Defence Forces.
