Restoring degraded lands: €2 Million initiative rolled out in Upper East, Northern regions

A €2 million initiative aimed at restoring degraded lands, promoting sustainable land management practices and community resilience to climate change in the Upper East and Northern regions has been launched in Tamale.

Dubbed: "Re-greening Africa Programme", it seeks to scale up re-greening practices and support smallholder farmers and pastoral households to adopt agroforestry, while promoting effective soil and water conservation techniques.

It is being implemented by the Centre for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF), in collaboration with World Vision Ghana, Catholic Relief Services (CRS), CARE, Sahel Eco and Agronomes and Vétérinaires Sans Frontières (AVSF), with funding from the European Union (EU).

Overview

Giving an overview of the project, the Lead of the Re-greening Africa Programme at CIFOR-ICRAF, Mieke Bourne Ochieng, said the overall goal of the project was to restore degraded landscapes, improve food and nutrition security, and strengthen climate resilience across Ghana, Somalia, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Mali, Senegal and Niger.

He explained that in Ghana, it would be implemented in the Upper East and Northern regions where the vegetation cover was fast depleting.

He indicated that the project, which was in its second phase, was building on the success of the first phase, which supported over 600,000 households and restored nearly one million hectares of land across eight African countries.

“As we begin the second phase of re-greening Africa in Ghana and other selected African countries, we will focus on expanding proven practices from the first phase while addressing identified gaps.”

“These include better matching of re-greening practices to local contexts, improved access to quality tree-planting materials, enhancing livelihoods through re-greening-linked value chains, and fostering an enabling policy environment,” he stated.

Land degradation

For his part, the Food Security and Resilience Technical Programme Manager at World Vision Ghana, Maxwell Amedi, emphasised that land degradation in Africa had led to declining agricultural productivity, increased food insecurity, and weakened community resilience to climate change.

He said: “The time to act is now. We must reverse land degradation and restore productivity. This programme is not just about planting trees — it’s about restoring hope, ecosystems, and creating a sustainable future for generations to come."

The Programme Director of Agriculture, Livelihood and Landscape at CRS, Edward Anaba Akunyagra, stated that an estimated 65 per cent of Africa’s productive land was currently degraded.

Writer's email: mohammed.fugu@graphic.com.gh