Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, December 11, 2025: At the 30th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Belém, Brazil, development partners, including the African Development Bank (www.AfDB.org), called for increased financing to meet the Great Wall of China’s 2030 goals.
The African Union initiative, currently funded by contributions from member states and development partners, aims to restore 100 million hectares of degraded land, sequester 250 million tonnes of carbon and create 10 million jobs in 11 countries in the Sahel region, stretching from Senegal in the west to Djibouti in the east.
“Despite the support of many countries and institutions, including multilateral development banks such as the African Development Bank and the World Bank, we are still far from meeting the financial needs of the Great Wall,” said Ibrahim Sou, Special Adviser to the President of Senegal on Environmental Issues.
Sow moderated a session at the climate conference entitled “Scaling up financing for the Great Wall: From climate ambition to integrated action for land, nature and people.” The session was hosted by the Pan-African Great Wall Authority, the African Development Bank Group, and the World Food Program as a forum to discuss strategies for mobilizing large-scale finance, including private and innovative finance. The Pan-African Great Wall Authority, based in Nouakchott, is the implementing agency of the Great Wall Initiative.
In January 2021, a €19 billion donation to the Great Wall of China was announced at a roundtable held in Paris on the sidelines of the One Planet Summit on Biodiversity. The African Development Bank, a key partner in this effort, has committed approximately $6.5 billion through ongoing programs.
“Fifteen years after its inauguration, the Great Wall of China is moving from vision to implementation. Millions of hectares have been restored and thousands of green jobs created, but significant gaps in funding and capacity remain. Increasing cooperation between African governments, development partners and the private sector is essential to achieving the goal by 2030,” argued Garba, who was Niger’s environment minister.
Sekou Kone, technical advisor on behalf of the Minister of Environment in Mali, believed that political will, a legal framework in place to protect investments in the Great Wall region, and an attractive economic environment will encourage other partners and the private sector to invest. “Our country must be ready to access new finance. An example of this is the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF), which was just launched by Brazil, the COP 30 Presidency, and which 74 countries have pledged to sign,” he said, reiterating his support for South-South cooperation.
Participants emphasized the importance of strengthening institutional capacity, human resources, and the very structure of institutions to ensure that they have all the resources they need to operate effectively.
Al Hamund Dorsouma, Manager of Climate and Green Growth at the African Development Bank, affirmed that the African Development Bank is a very strong supporter of the Great Wall of China.
“In addition to attracting concessional public resources, government agencies should develop a pipeline of bankable projects in land restoration and climate change adaptation, with a view to mobilizing new and innovative finance such as blended finance, carbon markets, green bonds, and climate funds to fill the green wall financing gap,” Dursoma said.
He cited as an example the Climate Action Window, created as part of the 16th replenishment of the African Development Fund (ADF-16) in 2023, which was able to mobilize more than $450 million and support 41 projects worth $322 million in its first year, with beneficiaries including Great Wall countries. He called for enhanced coordination and synergy of actions among the initiative’s partners to avoid duplication of action.
Session participants emphasized the need for stronger national structures as well as closer involvement of local communities and local governments to provide direct access to climate finance.
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