afrol News, 28 April - On average each year, Sahelian countries lost 1.7 million hectares of arable land to desertification, environmental experts told journalists.

At a news conference in the Senegalese capital Dakar, the Chairman of the Scientific Committee of the Great Green Wall project, Abdoulaye Dia said project aims to arrest desertification as well as develop the natural resources of countries.

The 11 Sahelian countries to benefit from the project are Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Chad, Niger, Mauritania, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, and Djibouti.

Initiated by President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal and Olusegun Obasanjo, the former Nigerian President, the Great Green Wall project was approved by the 8th African Union heads of state and government summit in January last year in Ethiopia. The project aims to make green again thousands of kilometres on a strip of land from Dakar to Djibouti.

President Wade had earlier emphasised the need for constant expansion of the Sahara Desert, considering the fact the limited amount of global fresh water Africa owned.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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