Desertification is a huge global issue. Fertile lands becoming arid and non-farmable due to human activity affects more than 100 countries worldwide. Here’s how some nations are reversing it 👇👇

China:

• The Gobi Desert has been growing for decades as high winds spread the sands drying up more and more land.

• The expansion of the Gobi affects about 400 million people.

• China has undertaken the massive task of reforesting its landmass.

• This would protect and settle the soil, stopping sandstorms from expanding beyond the Gobi.

• So far, China has planted 88 billion trees, absolutely dwarfing Mr. Beast’s #TeamTrees’ goal of 20 million trees. 

The Great Green Wall of China project has created jobs for the border communities in addition to the increased arable land for farming.

Africa:

• China’s green wall is not the first of its kind, Thomas Sankara led the initiative to plant millions of trees in Burkina Faso.

• Today, an impressive coalition of 11 African nations (Burkina Faso, Chad, Djibouti, Eritrea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal and Sudan) are coming together to build their own green wall.

• Once complete, it will span 8,000km across the African continent.

• Hopefully this would bring more opportunities and better conditions for the local communities.

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This series is brought to you by Lee Way (@leewaylau). He will be writing about political & societal issues, history, movies and music on What's Up Wednesday.