In the drylands of Africa, land degradation threatens the livelihoods of millions of people. Fortunately, there are promising initiatives emerging all over the continent turning the tide. Throughout the Sahel, for example, local communities are restoring vast tracts of land along the Great Green Wall.

But outside dense forests, medium-resolution satellite data cannot detect where those trees are growing back across the Sahel’s drylands and open-canopy forests. From field-collected data to remote sensing imagery, robust monitoring data gives credit to the impressive and often overlooked community-led restoration efforts across countries of the Great Green Wall. How can this innovative data accelerate regreening progress across Africa? And how can cohesive monitoring systems and decision-making tools track restoration at national levels? Join BothEnds, OSS, CILSS, and WRI for a virtual streaming of this UNCCD COP15 side event to learn how restoration monitoring can accelerate regreening progress. The session will also feature a special data release on Trees in Mosaic Landscapes in the Sahel.

This event will be streamed virtually from Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, in English with live interpretation in French. We also welcome you to join in person from the UNCCD COP15 Rio Conventions Pavilion, MET-07, at the Hotel Sofitel Ivoire.