Mauritania has launched a tree-planting program aimed at protecting its capital from the advancing desert and coastal erosion, a project that could eventually extend thousands of kilometers across Africa.

According to the government the aim of this green belt is to stop the advancing desert and stop encroachment by the sea, which is threatening the town with floods.The aim of this green belt is to stop the advancing desert and stop encroachment by the sea, which is threatening the town with floods. The project is part of a broader ant-desertification plan, the “Great Green Wall,” launched by the African Union in 2005 to try to create a 15 km-wide wall of greenery stretching 7,000 km between Africa’s east and west coasts. Image shows the planned location of the Great Green Wall across Africa.

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