What to read after Africa Open Data for Environment, Agriculture and Land (DEAL) and Africa’s Great Green Wall?

The Africa Open DEAL and Africa’s Great Green Wall initiative is a first-of-its-kind collection of accurate, comprehensive, and harmonized African land use and land use change data. It provides a detailed panorama of land use and change across the entire continent and countries, captured through more than 300 000 sampling points taken from very high-resolution satellite imagery using FAO’s Collect Earth tools. This land report is a collective effort of more than 350 African experts. Using maps and statistics generated from the assessments, the report elaborates future prospects of land use change in a comprehensive and accessible format. Key findings indicate that land restoration for livelihoods, biodiversity and carbon capture is achievable in Africa, in view of multiple large-scale initiatives and countries’ commitments, including restoration targets of 100 million ha for GGW-Sahel, 100 million ha for the AFR100, both by 2030, and another 200 million ha for the Pan-African Agenda on Ecosystem Restoration. Successfully restored lands in the Sahel under GGW would have a profound positive effect on the climate of the whole region, potentially doubling the amount of rainfall or decreasing summer temperatures throughout much of Nnorthern Africa and as far as the Mediterranean. FAO and the AUC remain committed to working with member countries, African institutions and partners to leverage digital technologies to fast-track data on land use change and restoration efforts on the continent. Africa Open DEAL data are embedded within FAO’s Hand-in-Hand Initiative geo-spatial platform and are accessible to anyone through EarthMap.org.