Accelerate the Mobilization of African and International Scientific Expertise to Boost Interdisciplinary Research for the Success of the Sahelian Great Green Wall by 2030

Laurent Bruckmann, Jean-Luc Chotte (), Robin Duponnois, Maud Loireau and Benjamin Sultan
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Laurent Bruckmann: Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Eco & Sols, Universités Montpellier, IRD, CIRAD, INRAE, SupAgro, 34060 Montpellier, France
Jean-Luc Chotte: Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Eco & Sols, Universités Montpellier, IRD, CIRAD, INRAE, SupAgro, 34060 Montpellier, France
Robin Duponnois: Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, LSTM, Universités Montpellier, IRD, CIRAD, INRAE, SupAgro, 34398 Montpellier, France
Maud Loireau: Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Espace-DEV, Universités Montpellier, de la Réunion, de Guyane, des Antilles, de Perpignan, 66860 Perpignan, France
Benjamin Sultan: Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, UMR 228 Espace-Dev, 34093 Montpellier, France

Land, 2022, vol. 11, issue 10, 1-15

Abstract: The Sahelian Great Green Wall (SGGW) is an influential project to combat desertification and promote sustainable land management on a large scale, involving 11 countries in the Sahel region of Africa. The UNCCD’s 2020 progress report showed a mixed picture concerning the meeting of the initial targets. At the One Planet Summit in 2021, announcements were made to consolidate the implementation of the SGGW, most notably with the creation of the Great Green Wall Accelerator. In this context, our paper sets out to review the scientific work conducted with regard to the SGGW. We have thus carried out a bibliometric analysis of the literature on SGGW. Although the initiative involves 11 countries and covers a large spectrum of scientific disciplines, our results show the predominance of ecological studies in the SGGW literature and a concentration of studies in certain geographies of interest, such as northern Senegal. Moreover, based on a secondary analysis of publications on land restoration and sustainable ecosystem management in Sahelian countries, we show that the literature relevant to SGGW topics is richer and fills in the information gaps we have identified at thematic and geographical levels. By showing that SGGW studies are overly focused on certain topics and geographical areas, our paper argues for a better interdisciplinary mobilization of researchers working on GGW-related topics. The scientific and operational success of the project depends on stronger networking between the different research teams and themes, both in Africa and internationally.

Keywords: Great Green Wall; Sahel; land restoration; review; adaptation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:11:y:2022:i:10:p:1744-:d:936491

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