8 ways for communities across Africa to ‘rise up from drought’ and end desertification

This year, the World Day to combat Desertification and Drought is observed on 17 June under the theme "Rising up from drought together".

Droughts have become an urgent global issue. Aggravated by human-induced climate change and desertification, they threaten all types of countries, negatively impacting food security and socioeconomic development. And prospects are not reassuring as droughts may affect over three-quarters of the world’s population by 2050.

UN entities, alongside the United Nations Convention to combat desertification (UNCCD), are tackling the root causes of drought and desertification while also addressing their impacts and laying the foundation for a more sustainable future. Find out how through this collection of interventions in Africa, the continent most severely affected by drought.

1. The Great Green Wall: A powerful driver for bringing back life and prosperity

Climate change is having a devastating impact on Africa, with more frequent and severe droughts exacerbating poverty, food shortages, and insecurity. Reducing CO2 emissions (and removing them) is critical to reducing drought. But halting and reversing human-induced land degradation – the main cause of desertification - is equally paramount.

The UNCCD-led Great Green Wall Initiative (GGWI) consists of a range of tree-planting projects stretching 8,000 km from Senegal to Djibouti, involving more than 20 countries.  

FAO supported the initiative by helping more than 500 communities improve food security and income generation opportunities. IFAD, and the Green Climate Fund set up a new programme in collaboration with UNCCD and UNFCCC to better support GGWI countries in restoring land and ecosystems, improving agricultural production, and accessing markets and nutrition. In Burkina Faso, a new UNDP initiative will soon support communities to engage in reforestation, promote water conservation, rehabilitate riverbanks and reduce soil erosion.

The GGWI has already restored millions of hectares of land. By 2030, it aims to restore 100 million hectares of degraded land, sequester 250 million tons of carbon in the soil and create 10 million green jobs.

It also catalyzes action to tackle the many aspects of drought and desertification across the whole continent, and UN entities are ‘all hands on deck’ to support countries and communities in this respect, including outside the GGWI perimeter.  

2. Combatting soil erosion and restoring coastal ecosystems

In Senegal’s Delta of Saloum, IFAD has worked with UNIDO to restore the area’s mangroves, which are disappearing due to overexploitation, climate change, and drought.

In the locality of Toubakouta, the project also helped set up a new oyster production line and install beehives.

“We then use some of our savings to reforest the mangrove and protect it, because we know we have to take great, great care of it,” said Bana Diouf, president of a women’s group funded by the project.

In Nceka, in eastern Eswatini, soil erosion poses a serious issue for the community. The Resilient Food Systems programme, an IFAD-led initiative, launched land rehabilitation that helped catalyze change not only in landscapes but also in mindsets.

“Rehabilitating this land will not only help us feed our families, it also created a bond among us as neighbours,” said Hleziphi Ndlangamandla, a member of the project’s erosion control group.

3. Leveraging innovation, technology, partnerships and private finance

Thanks to a partnership between UNCCD, FAO and a tech start-up, drone technology can now help countries along the GGWI track the growth of planted trees, determine the drivers of land degradation, and plant tree seedlings at a higher speed.

But innovation does not always require high technology.  

In the 1980s, Yacouba Sawadogo, a farmer from Burkina Faso, developed a new farming technique allowing crops to survive on minimal rainfall. His innovation revolutionized farming in Africa, earning him the nickname ‘The Man Who Stopped the Desert’ and the title of UNEP's 2020 Champion of the Earth.

“It’s not possible to avoid hardship or to be challenged by other people for your goals,” [...] “You have to be ready to challenge them back and defend your position. The world is counting on it,” said Sawadogo.

However, finance remains a key challenge in land restoration work. UNEP thus motivates private fund managers to set up dedicated funds through the Restoration Seed Capital Facility and uses blended private and public funding to get projects off the ground with reduced risk for investors.

4. Supporting livelihoods of drought-affected communities

Ali Mohamed Wasuge, a pastoralist in central Somalia, never saw the land this dry before.  

“The fields are dry and without water everything we planted last season has been wiped out by the drought. Our livestock are starving,” Wasuge said.

With his animals dying, Ali’s livelihood is disappearing before his eyes. Yet, he has decided to stay in his village.

Ali’s family received cash assistance, seeds and tools for planting from FAO. Ali can now pay off debts and keep his family together. More than 1,800 other families in the district received FAO’s livelihood assistance.  

5. Helping displaced people and host communities adapt while promoting solidarity and cohesion

Nigerian refugees newly-arrived at the Minawao camp in northern Cameroon used to cut down surrounding trees for firewood, accelerating desertification. UNHCR helped avoid the human and ecological disaster through a reforestation programme bringing together host and refugee communities.

Lydia Yacoubou is one of the many refugees who helped plant 360,000 seedlings with members of her host community.

"First, [trees] provide the shade needed to grow food. Second, the leaves and dead branches can be turned into fertilizer. Finally, the forest attracts and retains water. The rains have even increased.", said Lydia.

Similarly, in Ouallam, northern Niger, indigenous communities and displaced people found solutions together. In UNHCR’s market garden, women have started cultivating formerly degraded land and learned to minimize water evaporation while nourishing their plants.  

Rabi Saley, 35, who moved to the area after fleeing violence in Mali, said:

"We have done this... all together with the different communities: the refugees, the displaced and the local community of Ouallam. […] "We have become one community - I even got married here! "

6. Protecting women and girls facing drought-related hardship  

 “Look at that,” said Soalandy, a 31-year-old mother of four, opening her arms wide. “The ground is so dry. How many more years can we survive this drought?”

The drought that has relentlessly affected the Grand Sud region in Madagascar has exacerbated food insecurity, devastated livelihoods and disproportionately impacted women. Addressing family planning needs, gender-based violence and maternal mortality have become more challenging.

UNFPA supported affected women and girls in the region by providing hundreds of prenatal consultations, obstetrical ultrasounds, hygiene kits, treatments and family planning services.

“We are like plants. We will somehow rise despite the drought and bear flowers and fruits once again,” Soalandy said.

7. Addressing the looming threat of starvation

An unprecedented drought is currently ravaging the Horn of Africa, with 16.7 million people facing high-acute food insecurity according to a joint alert issued by FAO. And the situation is set to worsen according to WMO and other organizations.

The inflation caused by the Ukraine crisis is further aggravating the food emergency across the region.

WFP is scaling up its interventions to provide emergency food and nutrition assistance to millions of people in Somalia and Ethiopia, while UNICEF, which reported meeting parents who had to bury their emaciated children by the roadside, works to provide life-saving aid across the region, addressing severe acute malnutrition in children and ensuring access to clean water.

Food insecurity is also threatening the Sahel, more particularly Sudan, where FAO is helping rehabilitate water infrastructure and providing smallholder farmers with multiple forms of support.  

8. Supporting the livelihoods of people displaced by drought

Like the over 771,000 Somalis displaced by the extreme drought in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya, Aliyow had no other choice than leave his home with his family.

“We came here carrying our children on our shoulders,” says Aliyow, exhausted.

IOM has provided humanitarian assistance to over 350,000 affected people like Aliyow. It has also partnered with UNICEF and WFP to reach another 90,000 extremely vulnerable persons among the displaced.

UN-Habitat, for its part, is providing cash transfers to 1,300 Somalis, including to Khadijo Idow Aden, a mother of nine left without income after her livestock died from the drought and forced to leave her home with her family.  

 “Finally, we have food in our house, and I can feed my family,” said Aden.

The scale of devastation caused by drought and desertification is incommensurable, and emergency assistance remains vital to save the millions of lives at stake. But the world needs to urgently address the root causes of these phenomena.

Everyone has a role to play, and this role starts now. Take action and spread the messages of the Droughtland Campaign!

This piece was produced by the UN Development Coordination Office (UNDCO), based on a compilation of original stories initially published by UNCCD, UNEP, UNDP, FAO, IFAD, WFP, IOM, UNHCR, UNICEF, UNFPA, UN-Habitat, the Resilient Food Systems initiative and UN News. All the original stories are linked to in this compiled piece and all the images draw from these original pieces.