Green Climate Fund approves $43m for Green Barrage project

The board of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) approved a $43m grant for the Green Barrage in six wilayas on 28 October, Algeria's first from the fund.

The Green Barrage is a green belt that stretches about 1,500km through the pre-Saharan steppe. It was launched in 1971 to slow desertification, or the spread of desert conditions.

Where the project will work

The project will run for seven years and cover 454,138 hectares. It targets communes in six wilayas: Naâma and El Bayadh in the west, M'Sila and Djelfa in the centre, and Tébessa and Khenchela in the east.

Algérie 360 reported that these six wilayas are home to more than half of the country's nomadic population. The relaunch of the Green Barrage began on 29 October 2023 in Djelfa, and it aims to grow the area from 3.7 million to 4.7 million hectares.

The grant arrives almost three years to the day after that launch, Algérie 360 reported.

What the project will fund

According to a document from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the project plans to restore more than 59,000 hectares of degraded land. This land includes forests, grazing land, dunes and farmland.

Isolated rural households will receive 190 solar energy kits for refrigeration or for processing products. 240 hydroponic fodder units will feed more than 25,000 head of livestock throughout the year.

The project will also make it easier for rural micro-businesses to get finance. At least half of them will be led by women.

It will support crops and products suited to the climate, including prickly pear fig, olive, rosemary, wool, alfa and peppermint. These actions should reduce or store 540,355 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2) by the end of the project.

Who pays and who benefits

The Green Climate Fund grant covers only part of the cost. Algérie 360 reported that it covers only the actions that commercial finance does not cover.

The Algerian state provides $56.5m in co-financing. Algérie 360 calculated a total budget of $99.5m by adding the two amounts.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) supervises the project. The General Directorate of Forests implements it with the FAO office in Algeria.

Agriculture Minister Sid Ali Khaldi said the project was a substantial contribution to the relaunch of the Green Barrage. He also said it builds on Algeria's experience from the 1970s.

The project should reach more than one million people in arid and semi-arid areas. More than 142,000 farmers, herders and pastoralists will benefit directly, and more than a third of them are women.

Algérie 360 reported that the decline of grazing land directly threatens livestock farming, the main resource of the steppe. Isolated households, often far from networks, will receive solar kits and fodder units.

Algérie 360 also reported that products such as alfa, wool and prickly pear fig offer extra income. The General Directorate of Forests has planted 42,376 hectares, the site reported.