35% of the Earth’s surface is facing the threat of desertification over the next 30 years due to over-cultivation and changes in climate, affecting the lives of 850m people (1).

One of the more visible signs of this is the Sahara desert, growing to bring floods and difficult farming conditions to the countries that surround it, not by chance some of the poorest in the world.

The Great Green Wall project therefore plans to take the challenge of desertification head on and call for an unprecedented show of African unity in planting a 7775 km long chain of trees from Senegal through 9 countries to Djibouti.

The idea is for the trees to help prevent soil erosion, slow wind speeds that transport sand and destroy crops, and help maintain water tables. Unlike with the most common use for walls, this one is meant to unite people, and the tree-planting has begun.

At the Green Week conference that I recently attended at the European Commission, a lot of paper and free goodies were flying around on biodiversity that provided perhaps a little too much food for thought, when nothing replaces a sense of action for the community.

Many days later, at the bottom of my bag full of the fliers, I found a small unmarked box. Inside were a handful of seeds.

1 http://www.ypte.org.uk/environmental/desertification/22