The project aims to develop and implement technologies to address global challenges
DeserTech, an Israeli platform for climate technologies adapted to dry and desert climates, on Thursday launched a partnership program with the Global Mechanism of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification and the 11 African countries leading the desertification movement. “Great Green Wall”.
The Great Green Wall is an African initiative to rehabilitate 100 hectares of degraded land in the Sahel region by 2030, create millions of jobs and capture 250 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
The launch of the Israeli program was carried out at the Senegal pavilion during the UN climate conference COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, in front of a large African audience including the environment ministers of Mali and Mauritania. and a member of parliament from Chad.
Sinai Gohar Barak, head of ecosystem development at DeserTech, said the project has two goals: to develop and implement technologies to address global challenges, and to establish the Negev as a global center for desert technologies.
Hot and dry, the Sahel, which stretches between the Sahara desert in the north and the savannah in the south, is not only one of the poorest regions on the planet, but also one of the most exposed to the devastating effects of climate change. These effects include drought, food shortages, conflicts over natural resources and mass migration.
Since the launch of the Great Green Wall project more than ten years ago, nearly 18 million hectares of degraded land have been restored and 350,000 jobs have been created.
DeserTech, based in the Negev city of Beersheva, is a joint initiative of the Merage Israel Foundation, the Israel Institute of Innovation, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Ben Gurion University of Negev.