Gorgeous Great Green Walls

 

For a time I all but abandoned my Groundling blog, in part because of the pressures of time, but also because so much environmental news is bleak. As a Christian I'm committed to Creation Care, or whatever term we want to use. But it's tough for the writer, and it's hard to stay engaged as a reader when grim news piles up on grim news, like plastic on a beach...see, there I go!

There are positive stories which help us to maintain hope, which is such an important aspect of the life of faith. I've written before about the importance of trees not only for beauty but to mitigate the alarming rise of carbon in Earth's atmosphere.

 

There are massive planting projects in various places on the planet, including the Green Walls at the edge of the Sahara and in China. In China 60,000 soldiers have been deployed to plant tens of millions of hectares of forest, a massive project.

 Since 2005, the Great Green Wall concept has developed considerably. Lessons learned from the Algerian Green Dam or the Green Wall of China led to understand the need of an integrated multi-sectorial approach for sustainable results. From a tree planting initiative, the Great Green Wall for the Sahara and the Sahel has evolved to a development programming tool. In 2007, during the eight ordinary session of the Conference of Heads of State and Governments held on January 29 and 30, 2007 in Addis-Ababa (Ethiopia), African Heads of State and Government endorsed the Great Green Wall for the Sahara and the Sahel Initiative with the objective of tackling the detrimental social, economic and environmental impacts of land degradation and desertification in the region.
Together, eleven Sahelo-Saharan states created the Panafrican Agency of the Great Green Wall. 

This lifts my spirits, and I hope it does for you!