Three years after it was first proposed, preparations for an African 'wall of trees' to slow down the southwards spread of the Sahara desert are finally getting underway.

The 'Great Green Wall' will involve several stretches of trees from Mauritania in the west to Djibouti in the east, to protect the semi-arid savannah region of the Sahel — and its agricultural land — from desertification.

A plan for the proposed US$3 million, two-year initial phase of the project — involving a belt of trees 7,000 kilometres long and 15 kilometres wide — was formally adopted at the Community of Sahel–Saharan States (Cen-Sad) summit on rural development and food security in Cotonou, Benin, last month (17–18 June).

My Thoughts: I think that both the Globalization of industry and the effects of Climate Change are bringing us all closer together as one species on this planet. It is time for us in the United States to start paying attention to news from around the world. Our news media seems to pretty much isolate us from most of the happenings in the world that don't make headlines. This is probably just for economic reasons and in that respect the internet is great because it allows the viewer/reader to make their own choices as to the news that crosses their desktop.