Africa is ahead of the world in committing to and expanding forest restoration with its African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative (AFR100), a pan-African movement which aims to restore at least one million hectares of land on the continent by 2030.
On Saturday, World Environment Day, the UN launches the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030, but as a dazzling new documentary reveals, Africa is already reshaping its landscape after launching AFR100 in December 2015.
AFR100’s ground-breaking efforts are portrayed in gorgeous footage in The Grand African Green Up, which premieres on National Geographic Africa's YouTube channel on Friday.
Poetically narrated by Kenyan environmentalist and activist Wanjira Mathai, the vistas of forests, deserts and wilderness exhibited in this film are wondrous.
In an interview, she said: “They wanted to show visually the beauty and benefits of restoration. The images are breathtaking and I loved celebrating Africa’s beauty and its leadership.
“This is so rare to see. There is so much hope in it and I loved being part of telling the story. When you hear the stories of people, and with [the film’s] poetry, it reaches deep beyond the intellect.”
Mathai, whose late mother, Wangari Muta Maathai, won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her “contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace”, says: “You see these images and think how can I not safeguard this beauty?
“As a young girl, every time we wanted to celebrate, we would plant something,” says Mathai, chair of the Green Belt Movement founded by her mother in 1977.
The Grand African Green Up soundtrack has a soaring resonance accompanying the visuals, for which nature documentaries have become known.
The images are breathtaking and I loved celebrating Africa’s beauty.
— Kenyan environmentalist and activist Wanjira Mathai
What is more original is the narrative. It shatters the stereotype of “Africans” as victims by giving a voice to people whose commitment to AFR100 is transforming their environment and communities.
In their own words, a bishop, singer, researcher, journalist and environmentalist describe how erosion and deforestation have damaged their land and what they are doing to protect and restore it.
The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) warned in 2008 that deforestation, at roughly four million hectares a year in Africa, was happening at twice the world rate.
Africa has vast and diverse natural resources and, historically, resource extraction, driven by foreign powers, governments and companies, has accelerated the decline of its forests.
Mathai, World Resources Institute (WRI) vice-president and regional director for Africa, said: “We are looking at restoration on a continental scale. This is the decisive decade for restoration and the countries have surpassed the 100 million (commitment) with 128 million,” she says.
Five of the 31 countries which have committed to AFR100 — Kenya, Tanzania, Madagascar, Ghana and Senegal — feature in the film.
SA committed in 2017 to restore 3,6 million hectares under AFR100, a country-led movement.
AFR100 and the nature restoration organisation Justdiggit produced The Grand African Green Up, which was directed by Safi Graauw.
“This is only the beginning. We at Justdiggit believe the true power of regreening lies in powerful storytelling which brings people and organisations [together] to reverse climate change,” said Wessel van Eeden, its global marketing director.
The documentary boosts National Geographic’s Planet Possible campaign — a multiyear initiative launched on Earth Day in April across its platforms “to help people live more lightly on the planet” — by showcasing how individuals can contribute to their communities.
The UN’s Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030 aims to stop the degradation of ecosystems and restore them across the world, and this will be marked worldwide on Friday (#WorldEnvironmentDay #GenerationRestoration).
Mathai said of her home country: “We have seen how restoration is possible and this empowers people on the ground. Young women are often the custodians of seed and they are producing thousands of trees.
“AFR100 is a huge priority for me. Another personal journey is working with small-scale farmers and the governance of cities ... we still have some beautiful green cities in Africa.
“I do not take Nairobi for granted,” she said of her home city, where the Karura Forest, protected by her mother, is an idyllic place for hiking and cycling (as I did in December 2020).
“We have Kigali, Kampala, Addis, Accra, Brazzaville, with the river right there ... so many cities and we want to deepen that beauty.”
* The Grand African Green Up will premiere on YouTube at 6pm on Friday, in time for World Environment Day weekend. It will be broadcast on June 11 at 6pm on National Geographic (DStv 181) and National Geographic Wild (DStv 182).
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