Africa Pushes Land Restoration as a Path to Jobs and Resilience

Across Africa, climate change, deforestation, overgrazing and unsustainable use of natural resources are placing additional pressure on agricultural and pastoral communities whose incomes depend directly on productive land.

Africa's battle against desertification and declining land productivity is increasingly becoming an economic challenge as well as an environmental one, with the African Development Bank pushing for greater investment in restoration projects that can create jobs, strengthen food production and protect communities from worsening drought. The issue is taking centre stage at COP17 of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, where countries are being pressed to turn years of restoration commitments into projects that deliver visible results.

The scale of the challenge stretches far beyond Africa. Up to 40 per cent of the world's land is already degraded, affecting more than 3.2 billion people, while drought could affect three out of four people by 2050. Across Africa, climate change, deforestation, overgrazing and unsustainable use of natural resources are placing additional pressure on agricultural and pastoral communities whose incomes depend directly on productive land.

Great Green Wall needs billions more in investment

The Great Green Wall Initiative has become one of Africa's most ambitious responses. Originally envisioned as a belt of trees across the Sahel, it has developed into a broader programme covering land management, ecosystem restoration, livelihoods and green economic development.

Its targets are substantial: restore 100 million hectares of degraded land, create 10 million green jobs and sequester 250 million tonnes of carbon by 2030. Reaching those goals will require at least $33 billion, while financial commitments currently exceed $19 billion. A major difficulty has been turning pledged money into financing that countries, projects and communities can actually access.

The African Development Bank is working to make restoration projects more attractive to investors by connecting them with agriculture, water, renewable energy, infrastructure and local livelihoods. Blended finance, stronger project preparation and investment structures adapted to local conditions are expected to play larger roles in closing the funding gap.

A Southern Africa Great Green Wall Accelerator approved by the Global Environment Facility will extend support across the 16 members of the Southern African Development Community. The Bank will act as the GEF implementing agency, with the UN Convention to Combat Desertification's Global Mechanism serving as implementation partner.

Restoration projects are already producing results

Existing programmes show what restoration investment can deliver on the ground. Phase II of the Programme to Strengthen Resilience to Food and Nutrition Insecurity in the Sahel has rehabilitated more than 12,000 hectares of land and constructed 176 water-harvesting structures.

The programme has also established 35 nurseries, produced more than 512,000 seedlings and reforested over 2,000 hectares. Communities have created 1,228 kilometres of firebreaks and received more than 7,000 improved cookstoves, combining environmental restoration with measures intended to strengthen food security and reduce pressure on natural resources.

Other projects are linking restoration with drought resilience and gender equality. The Gender-Transformative Resilience to Drought Project works in Madagascar, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, while support for the Pan-African Agency of the Great Green Wall is strengthening institutional capacity in countries including Eritrea, Mali, Niger, Sudan and Chad.

These efforts rely on familiar approaches such as agroforestry, assisted natural regeneration, sustainable rangeland management, water harvesting and climate-smart agriculture. Their value comes from combining healthier soils and vegetation with practical benefits for farmers, pastoralists and local economies.

Women and communities placed at centre of recovery

The Bank argues that restoration cannot succeed through large financing packages alone because communities ultimately manage farms, forests, grazing areas and watersheds. Women's access to land, finance, technology and decision-making is particularly important given their extensive involvement in natural resource-based livelihoods.

The Towards Climate-Resilient Shea Communities in Burkina Faso and Togo project illustrates that approach. Africa's shea sector supports around 16 million women across 21 countries and covers nearly 275 million hectares. The project is working to reduce climate vulnerability for 7,500 women collectors and processors while benefiting more than 30,000 people through stronger cooperatives, beekeeping, biodiversity protection and more efficient production practices.

COP17, taking place from 17 to 28 August under the theme "Restore the Land. Restore the Hope.", provides an opportunity to connect such local projects with wider global climate, biodiversity and land commitments.

For Africa, the argument for restoration is increasingly practical: degraded land threatens food, incomes and stability, while healthier landscapes can support businesses, employment and stronger communities. Treating land as productive infrastructure could turn restoration from an environmental expense into an investment in the continent's economic future.