1. 17August 2011
Economic Commission for Africa Ev
NEPAD TODAY
er y ecanepad@uneca.org
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support to the African Union and d ne
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y
The articles published in this newsletter do not necessarily reflect the views of UNECA or NPCA
High-level operational meeting called Chief of Section
Kwabia Boateng
in Rome Editor
Yinka Adeyemi
U
rgent and concrete measures projects, building on already prepared plans Production Assistant
Meseret Arega
intended to heighten the interna- and effective actions by governments in the
tional response to the worsening Horn of Africa as well as their humanitarian
crisis in the Horn of Africa will be the focus and development partners that need to be
of a high-level operational meeting hosted implemented on a wide scale to fully meet
by FAO on 18 August 2011. immediate requirements and address under-
lying causes.
The meeting, to which agriculture ministers
of all FAO's 191 member countries have It follows up on the Emergency Ministerial-
been invited, along with senior officials from level Meeting on the Horn of Africa held
Regional Economic Organizations, the Afri- in Rome on 25 July 2011 and will provide
can Union, NEPAD, the Rome-based agen- input which would be useful for the Pledg-
cies, leading NGOs and other partners, will ing Conferences of the United Nations and the
take stock of the evolving situation, actions African Union.
Source:http://www.indiainfoline.com/Markets/
underway, needs and shortfalls in the crisis. News/Focus-on-concrete-action-on-Horn-of-Africa-
It will identify concrete programmes and FAO/5221260044
'Green Wall' project gathers pace in Senegal
S
enegal is planting its latest batch of Mbar Toubab, Tessekere and Widou. The
seedlings for Africa's 'wall of trees' 1,500-strong workforce began planting this
initiative this week - the first plant- week (8 August) and hopes to plant 1.65
ing since a memorandum of understanding million seedlings by 15 September. Since
(MoU) for the project was signed in May. 2008, Senegal has planted nearly eight mil-
lion seedlings for the wall.
The Great Green Wall project involves
planting a living wall of trees and bushes Pape Sarr, technical director for the Senega-
more than 7,000 kilometres long and 15 lese project, told SciDev.Net that the species
kilometres wide, from Dakar, Senegal in the selected for planting are economically viable
west to Djibouti in the east, to protect the and drought resistant. They are also protect-
semi-arid Sahel region from desertification. ed by law in Senegal and cannot be felled
without government permission, he said.
The project is in its fourth year in Sen-
egal, with planting taking place in Labgar, The wall was initiated by the African Union
Continued on page 2
A production of the RCM-Africa Secretariat, Economic Development and NEPAD Division (EDND),
United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Director: Emmanuel Nnadozie
email: ecanepad@uneca.org

2. NEPAD TODAY
ecanepad@uneca.org
Continued from page 1
‘Green Wall’... SADC Ministers
(AU) in 2007, through its NEPAD. In June meet this Monday
last year, the AU created the Pan African
T
Agency of the Great Green Wall to monitor he Southern Africa Development
and coordinate the project in the different Community(SADC)'s Council of
countries, and provide and share information. Ministers will meet in Luanda,
An MoU was signed between the agency and to prepare the 31st summit of Heads of
NEPAD in May, which will involve the shar- State and Government of the organisa-
ing and dissemination of strategies in the tion, scheduled for 17-18 August.
different countries involved in the project.
The SADC ministers will look at the or-
Marcel Nwalozie, director of NEPAD's ganisation's finances, the regional integra-
West Africa Mission, told SciDev.Net: tion process, the level of implementation
"One of the things we are trying to do of programmes in the ambit of the African
[through the MoU] is [create] a scientific Union and NEPAD, as well as the south-
advisory panel, because the Great Green ern Africa's strategy to mitigate the con-
Wall is not going to just be a wall of trees." sequences of the world financial crisis.
The project could also help improve livelihoods The SADC ministers will equally review
of the communities around the wall, he said. the execution of the plan of activities since
the last summit, held last August, and the
His office, Nwalozie added, is currently programme implemented by the organisa-
looking into different initiatives to im- tion's Secretariat, among other subjects.
prove the soil, which would also help im-
prove livelihoods of local communities. The summit will be held under the motto
"Consolidating the bases for regional inte-
"The hot wind alone affects the top layer gration, developing infrastructures to facili-
of the soil, making it unusable for crop- tate commercial exchange and economic
ping. What we want to do with this proj- liberalisation".
ect is to stop the Sahara desert, control it
Source: Africa News, August 15, 2011 Monday
and limit its advancement so that we sort
of build a wind break that would reduce Upcoming Event
the speed of this wind, the velocity of this
• African Union Pledging Conference, 24-26 Aug
wind, and help us to control its move-
2011
ment and conserve this side of the forest."
• AU-NEPAD Agriculture Climate Change Miti-
A number of international organisations gation Framework meeting
such as the Global Environment Facil- 17-19 Aug 2011, Durban, South Africa
ity which confirmed in February around
• Migration and Development Series: Briefing on
US$115 million to support the project, are South-South Migration Cooperation
supporting it because it could also act as a 6 Sep 2011, New York, United States
"huge carbon sink", he said.
• Africa Green Investment Gateway Conference
Source: Africa News, August 12, 2011 Friday 14 -16 Sep 2011, London, United Kingdom
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