Scaling-Up Resilience in Africa’s Great Green Wall (SURAGGWA) Signing: Senegal and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Unite to Green the Sahel

 

On July 4th, 2025, the Government of Senegal and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) signed a major partnership agreement to implement the SURAGGWA project (Scaling-Up Resilience in Africa’s Great Green Wall), an ambitious programme aimed at strengthening climate resilience in the Sahel region.

The signing ceremony took place at the headquarters of the Ministry of Environment and Ecological Transition, in the presence of Professor Daouda Ngom, Minister of Environment, and Ms. Bintia Stephen-Tchicaya, Acting Subregional Coordinator of FAO for West Africa.

A Large-Scale Project in Response to an Ecological Emergency

Between 2005 and 2023, Senegal lost nearly 340,000 hectares of forest – an average of 17,000 hectares per year – due to agricultural expansion, bushfires, illegal logging, and overgrazing. This massive deforestation has reduced the carbon absorption capacity of Senegalese forests by nearly 46%, undermining efforts to combat climate change.

In this alarming context, the SURAGGWA project takes on its full significance. With a budget of USD 222 million, including USD 150 million from the Green Climate Fund (GCF), the project aims to restore 1.4 million hectares of degraded land, reduce emissions by 65 million tons of CO₂, and sustainably improve the living conditions of 1.9 million people, especially women and youth.

Messages of Hope and Responsibility

In his address, Minister, Professor Daouda Ngom stated: “For Senegal, the project plans to restore just over 80,000 hectares of degraded land, which will directly and indirectly benefit thousands of citizens. It will also help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, develop value chains for non-timber forest products, and strengthen the institutional capacities of the Senegalese Agency for Reforestation and the Great Green Wall (ASERGMV), to ensure the sustainability of the actions undertaken.”

Ms. Bintia Stephen-Tchicaya emphasized: “SURAGGWA is a deeply inclusive project that will build on the commitment of over 15,000 community groups, with at least 30% female participation. It mobilizes governments, civil society, the private sector, and regional institutions in a spirit of synergy and cooperation.”

Regional Mobilization to Address a Shared Challenge

The SURAGGWA project represents a collective response to desertification and climate instability affecting the Sahel region. Eight countries – Burkina Faso, Chad, Djibouti, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal – are joining forces to restore land, revitalize local economies, and strengthen social cohesion.

Led by the African Union under the Great Green Wall Initiative, SURAGGWA stands as a model of regional and multilateral cooperation, built on three pillars: ecological restoration, sustainable economic development, and environmental governance.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO): Regional Office for Africa.