The Great Green Wall Initiative (GGW) is Africa’s flagship program to combat land degradation, desertification, food insecurity, and climate vulnerability across the Sahel region, stretching from Senegal in the west to Djibouti in the east. Launched in 2007 by the African Union, the initiative focuses on restoring 100 million hectares of degraded land, creating 10 million green jobs, and capturing 250 million tons of carbon by 2030.

Why the Private Sector Matters

Although the GGW is largely driven by governments, development partners, and international organizations, the private sector plays a vital role in financing, innovation, supply-chain development, and long-term sustainability. The scale of the GGW—spanning 11 countries and costing billions of dollars—makes government funding alone insufficient.

The private sector’s involvement turns the GGW from a donor-dependent initiative into a market-driven economic opportunity that benefits communities while promoting environmental restoration.

UPi in partnership with the Futures Agribusiness (FAGRIB) bring an integrated, community-based, market-based and nature-based solutions (NBS) to agricultural development and landscape restoration. We form partnerships and bring innovations through the value chains to help smallholder farmers succeed in marketing as many sustainable products as possible using the following approaches:

• Agroforestry Optimization & Commercialization
• Sustainable Land Management and Restoration
• Capacity Building in Market and Financial Development
• Energy: Renewable Energy and Energy Transition.