- Convenors:
-
Enrico Ille
(University of Leipzig)
Detlef Müller-Mahn (University of Bonn)
Abubakar Bello (Leipzig University)
Matiwos Bekele Oma
João de Deus Vidal Jr
- Format:
- Panel
Format/Structure
The panel is intended to start with paper presentations, followed by a roundtable discussion with the convenors.
Long Abstract
Designs to combat deforestation and desertification have long been connected to the policy idea of a green belt, on the African continent currently most extensively formulated as the Great Green Wall (GGW) initiative. In critical reviews of such efforts, one of the central observations has been the wide gap in implementation in different areas, from comparatively low results, for instance in Sudan, to substantial results, for instance in Senegal. Deeper analysis revealed how the seemingly straightforward programme of ‘making things green’ is set against contested and changing visions of green transformations, as well as a variety of models and experiences of regreening interventions. These mostly preceded the GGW, which can be found to be a politically powerful concept that feeds, nevertheless, on reforestation projects led by other actors, such as farming communities, while often overselling its own success.
Our interdisciplinary panel explores the political dynamics behind this contradiction between a highly visible imaginary and small-scale efforts that often remain invisible behind the spectacle of such imaginaries. We seek papers that engage with the discussion of the persistent appeal of large designs of regreening, including the institutional processes and knowledge production that sustain the appeal. At the same time, we invite papers that highlight ongoing work in the shadow of such big schemes, such as adjustments to farming and pastoralist practices in direction of agroforestry and agrobiodiversity. We hope that such an exploration can contribute to shifting attention away from often placated but superficial aspects of regreening, such as number of planted trees, to the details of landscape development and plant growth in relation to human sociality and needs.
Accepted papers
Presentation short abstract
The paper demonstrates how green narratives use the concern for the environment to justify political strategies serving primarily other goals. Our analysis uses the example of the Great Green Wall initiative to highlight the role of persuasion and performativity.
Presentation long abstract
The paper examines how green narratives are constructed and used in political programmes for environmental restoration. It contributes to critical debates about green growth, green transformation, and greenwashing (Infante-Amate et al., 2025). We interpret green narratives as discursive practices that exploit environmental concerns to justify policies primarily serving economic and political goals (Aram 2026). Using the design and implementation of the Great Green Wall (GGW) programme in Africa as an empirical example, we start by proposing that the GGW is motivated by an ‘imaginary’ that promises a ‘technical green fix’ for a complex set of interrelated political, societal, and environmental problems. We argue that this imaginary exercises its persuasive power through its ability to forge consensus among the parties involved and coordinate action. The GGW is typically presented as a comprehensive solution to the multiple problems of the Sahelian zone – a win-win strategy that balances the needs and interests of all stakeholders. However, our study views this performative strategy rather as a ‘technical green fix’, i.e., a programme that reduces the complex setting to just one key aspect: the environment.
Aram, A. (2026): Green Narratives. Media and Environment in a Changing World. Routledge.
Infante-Amate, J., Travieso, E. & Aguilera, E. Green growth in the mirror of history. Nature Communications 16, 3766 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-58777-4
Presentation short abstract
I present a background to the Great Green Wall initiative, designed to combat desertification in the Sahel zone by increasing plant cover, launched in 2007 by the AU and following several previous large initiatives against desertification in the Sahel zone going back at least to the 1970s.
Presentation long abstract
The Sahel zone is an environmentally, economically and security-politically challenging region that has experienced a plurality of related interventions. An example is the Great Green Wall initiative, designed to combat desertification by way of increasing plant cover. It was launched in 2007 by the AU, following several large initiatives going back at least to the 1970s. Several major organizations became involved, including the African Forest Forum, the World Bank, the Global Environment Facility, and the World Resources Institute, and the initiative has been declared one of the 10 UN World Restoration Flagships, intended to attract greater attention, after France’s president Macron already talked about an acceleration process in 2021.
Several reports and academic studies observed the progress in different countries; a 2020 report by a Germany-based non-profit organization found implementation to be lagging, for instance. One of the central observations has been the wide gap between different areas, from comparatively low results, for instance in Sudan, to substantial results, for instance in Senegal. This had often to do not only with the approach but also with the extent to which individual projects and programs were embedded in existing environments, economies and political conditions. Still, the traditional approach of relying on self-documentation by governments limited the depth of understanding the broader socio-political and ecological aspects of the different outcomes. Concomitantly, a critical view on such large-scale environmental programmes is also relevant, as the seemingly straightforward ‘making things green’ is set against contradictory visions of what green transformations are supposed to achieve.
Presentation short abstract
We discuss the implications of lacking ecological monitoring in regional restoration projects, including potential unintended effects. We demonstrate how interventions shifted from exotic commercial trees to more native species, reflecting changes in socio-environmental and political contexts.
Presentation long abstract
Ecosystem restoration projects often involve the introduction or re-establishment of tree cover, but the ecological implications of restoration practices vary widely across interventions. Here, we discuss different aspects of land use changes and ecological indicators associated with regreening projects in Nigeria to understand the rationale and potential impacts on local ecology. We combine field surveys, stakeholder interviews, project documentation, and time series of satellite-derived vegetation data to question what drives changes in vegetation cover in the wake of projects in Kano, Katsina, and Jigawa during the past 50 years.
We discuss how projects historically focused on commercially valuable exotic trees, whereas native species have become more common in recent decades. Project goals have shifted from commercial plantations toward broader landscape management, climate change mitigation, and job creation, but the long-term ecological impacts remain relevant to be observed. We argue that decisions about landscape conversion and species selection both reflect and influence not only immediate project rationales but also the surrounding socio-environmental and political context. This indicates how these designs for environmental transformation not only pursue a specific version of ‘greenness’, including a projected land use, but also have potential wider ecological consequences, including unintended ones, that often remain underreported, especially in the wake of term-based interventions. These gaps indicate a risk posed by neglecting ecological monitoring of such efforts, raising concerns about their impacts on regional socio-ecological contexts.
Presentation short abstract
The paper shows how Africa’s Great Green Wall functions less as a concrete project and more as a performative narrative, rebranded into existing programs in Ethiopia. This gap between global vision and local practice reveals how environmental initiatives are reshaped in implementation
Presentation long abstract
This paper examines the implementation of global environmental initiatives into national contexts, using the African Union’s Great Green Wall (GGW) in Ethiopia as a case study. We argue that the GGW operates less as a coherent, on-the-ground program and more as a performative discourse: a powerful concept that mobilizes international consensus, secures donor funding, and legitimizes state agendas by framing restoration as a win-win solution. Through empirical investigation, we trace how this global narrative is invoked, reframed, and absorbed within Ethiopia. Our findings reveal a significant gap between the GGW's international imaginary and its localized performance. Rather than manifesting as a distinct project, the GGW was strategically folded into pre-existing government programs, such as longstanding Sustainable Land Management projects and the national Green Legacy Initiative, which were subsequently rebranded as ‘GGW activities’ to align with donor interests. This process, exacerbated by chronic funding shortfalls and fragmented governance, created a hollowed-out, patchwork assemblage. The initiative generated overlapping mandates, delayed implementation, and performativity reporting, while simultaneously legitimizing contentious local practices like land enclosures and precarious labor under the banner of restoration. By analyzing the GGW's performative implementation, this paper demonstrates that global environmental programs are rarely realized as designed. Instead, they become contested sites where global green visions are negotiated and repurposed, revealing the profound politics underlying the pursuit of ecological fixes in local realities.
Presentation short abstract
Guided by urban political ecology, this paper compares Nairobi and Addis Ababa to demonstrate how spectacle-driven river restoration and daily community greening reflect struggles over power, land, and belonging, unveiling the politics of visibility in urban climate adaptation.
Presentation long abstract
Large-scale regreening initiatives often serve as political spectacles that make certain aspects of nature visible while concealing others. Guided by an urban political ecology framework, this paper compares riverine informal settlements in Nairobi and Addis Ababa to explore how state-led “restoration” projects and everyday community greening practices generate competing ecologies of value, visibility, and power. Using ethnography, participatory mapping, policy and discourse analysis, and GIS land-cover change data, I find that spectacle-driven restoration frequently increases the value of riparian land, justifies clearance, and heightens displacement risks. Conversely, community practices such as pocket parks, riverbank gardens, tree stewardship, and transforming dumpsites into green spaces provide important ecosystem services such as microclimate regulation and food security; and social cohesion. However, these initiatives are fragile, dependent on lived experiences and insecure land rights, and are threatened by top-down greening projects and overlapping institutional mandates. These tensions illustrate greening as a contest over knowledge, land, and belonging in rapidly urbanising African cities. The paper advocates that climate-resilient urban regreening should prioritise land tenure security, co-management with communities, and monitoring ecological health, plant survival, and livelihoods, not merely counting trees. Contrasting spectacle politics with everyday stewardship reveals how urban greening both reproduces and challenges unequal ecologies, offering insights into climate adaptation politics.