24/01/2023
The Great Green Wall of the Sahara and the Sahel: the next axis of global clean energy.- Paula Mora Brito
Energy security is acquiring great relevance in the agendas of States. The current use of fossil energy not only deteriorates the climate, but also causes instability in the global order: its increasing use to maintain our economic structure based on modern low-cost capitalism poses new interconnected challenges. In areas such as the Sahel, the desire to control the territories with these resources increases. Armed groups finance themselves by exporting these goods, while spreading insecurity and underdevelopment. In addition, with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the search for energy security has climbed up the list of international priorities —mainly Western ones—, with which the global transition to clean energy has accelerated. This new outlook can be used in favor of the African continent in various ways.
This article explores the Great Green Wall of the Sahara and the Sahel (GGWSSI) or Great Green Wall (GGW) initiative, as it not only represents an environmental solution to the growing threat of desertification in the region, but above all a socio-economic opportunity. to alleviate its challenges: massive migration, terrorism, corruption and food insecurity. Using a conceptual framework based on the security-development-governance nexus, this study will examine the project’s journey to date and provide recommendations for expanding the initiative to become a research, development and innovation (R+D+i) center in clean energy that would not only benefit the region but the world.
Document prepared by Paula Mora Brito. Graduated in International Relations.