K4GGWA website

Welcome to the GGW Restoration Dashboard!

The Great Green Wall (GGW)

The idea of a 'Great Green Wall' or 'Green Front' to stop the southward expansion of the Sahara Desert has been around since the 1950s. In the 1970s, the vision was to create a mosaic of green and productive landscapes across the entire width of Africa, from Senegal in the west to Djibouti in the east. Today, the GGW initiative aims to combat land degradation and desertification, improve food security, and enhance livelihoods for millions of people living in the region. It has evolved beyond a green wall to a more holistic approach that includes ecosystem restoration and sustainable land management across the Sahel region and beyond.

About this dashboard

In this dashboard, we focus on monitoring and analyzing various environmental parameters across the GGW region to support these goals using the latest remote sensing and machine learning approaches and building on comprehensive data collected across the region. We focus primarily on the three thematic areas outlined below.
Sahel nature
Sahel oasis

Climate Analysis

Understanding the spatial patterns of climate trends and short term weather events is important for assessments of climate risks across the GGW region. Some of the mtrics we track in the dashboard include rainfall patterns, changes in number of rainy days, drought frequencies, and extreme weather events such as rainfall and flooding.
🌧️ Precipitation Trends • 📊 Climate Variability • 🌡️ Temperature Analysis

Vegetation Trends

Long-term vegetation (2001-2024) cover trends reveal climatic and human-induced ecosystem changes. Vegetation, or land cover, dynamics and trends allow us to track deforestation and other changes in land use,drought impacts, and restoration progress across the region.
🌿 NDVI Trends • 📈 Vegetation Health • 🌱 Restoration Monitoring

Land Health Dynamics

Ecosystem functioning is complex and dynamic. Multiple indicators provide insights into land health. Analyze soil organic carbon, erosion patterns, tree cover, and ecosystem interactions for comprehensive understanding.
🌍 Soil Health • 🌳 Tree Cover • 🔄 Ecosystem Dynamics

Welcome to the climate module!

Tracking climate trends is essential for understanding overall resilience, as rainfall and temperature directly affect water availability, agriculture, and ecosystem health. Changes in precipitation and temperature patterns can signal shifts in climate conditions, influencing drought frequency, flood risks, and overall agricultural productivity.

Warming trends are becoming increasingly evident across most of Africa's drylands, with temperature increases often exceeding global averages. These shifts impact everything from crop yields to water security. You can explore localized climate data and long-term trends by selecting a country and district from the dropdown filters, or by interacting directly with the maps to visualize changes in your area of interest.

Landscape in the Sahel
Temperature Analysis (ERA5)
Precipitation Analysis (CHIRPS)
How to use the climate maps

Three climate layers cover the Great Green Wall corridor:

  • Temperature (ERA5, 1940–2025): Long-term average surface air temperature and the multi-decadal warming trend (°C per decade).
  • Precipitation (CHIRPS, 1981–2025): Mean annual rainfall and the long-term trend in total annual precipitation (mm per decade).
  • Rainfall intensity (GPM, 2001–2025): Trend in maximum daily rainfall intensity (mm/day per decade) — an indicator of changing flood and erosion risk.

Each map has two layers — toggle between average and trend using the layers control in the top-right corner.

☞ Click any region on a map or use the sidebar filters to select a country and district. Time-series plots will appear below, showing annual values from the full observational record together with anomaly stripes highlighting years that deviate from the long-term mean.

Maximum Daily Rainfall Intensity Trend (GPM, 2001–2025)

Welcome to the vegetation module!

Tracking vegetation cover trends is essential for understanding ecosystem health and land use changes. When looking at long-term changes in vegetation cover, we use a satellite-derived vegetation index, such as the Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI). The EVI is a greenness index where higher EVI values indicate more green, healthy vegetation, while lower values indicate less vegetation or unhealthy plants. Decreasing EVI trends can indicate deforestation, land use change or increased droughts, while general increases can indicate effective landscape-level restoration, increased water supply or changes in land management.

Monitoring for Management

EVI time series are essential for monitoring the effectiveness of land restoration efforts and improved management practices. Changes in vegetation trends provide evidence of:

  • Restoration Success: Positive trends indicating vegetation recovery following intervention
  • Land Degradation: Negative trends revealing areas requiring attention
  • Management Impacts: Assessment of conservation and sustainable land management outcomes

This monitoring supports evidence-based decision-making for land managers, policymakers, and conservation practitioners.
Multi-temporal Vegetation Trend Analysis

Enhanced Vegetation Index

The Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) is a satellite-derived metric that measures vegetation greenness and health.

MODIS EVI sample

Vegetation Time Series

Our analysis creates comprehensive time series of vegetation dynamics from 2000 to present, capturing seasonal patterns and long-term trends.

EVI time series example

Welcome to the land health module!

Land health refers to the degree to which the integrity of the soil, vegetation, water and air, as well as ecological processes are balanced and sustained. Healthy ecosystems are more resilient against climate extremes and provide enhanced services to the people living there. The land health maps provided on this page are derived from data collected using the Land Degradation and Surveillance Framework, which is a global framework for monitoring land health.
Visit the LDSF website for more information!
Sahel landscape
Senegal / Mali
Ethiopia
Niger
Agricultural landscape in Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Village landscape
Ghana
Land Health Indicators Map

Parklands

Agroforestry parklands are traditional land use systems in semi-arid West Africa.

Drylands

Drylands cover 60% of Africa and are characterized by water scarcity.

Rangelands

Rangelands are ecosystems dominated by grasses, shrubs, and scattered trees.

Land Health

Land health refers to the capacity of land to sustain ecosystem functions.

The Regreening App

Empowering local communities to track, monitor, and scale land restoration across the Great Green Wall. Community-driven science meeting state-of-the-art technology.

Community-Driven Monitoring

The Regreening App is a mobile application designed to facilitate community-based monitoring of land restoration efforts across the Great Green Wall region. It enables local citizens to collect data on tree planting, farmer-managed natural regeneration (FMNR), and nurseries, providing critical ground-truth data for environmental research and policy.

Built with offline capabilities and an intuitive multi-lingual interface, the app is tailored for use in remote rural areas, ensuring that those at the heart of restoration efforts have the tools to document their success.

Why Citizen Science?

  • Local Knowledge: Leveraging centuries of community expertise in landscape management.
  • Data at Scale: Collecting thousands of ground-truth points across vast, remote territories.
  • Community Ownership: Fostering stewardship and pride in local restoration outcomes.

App Modules

Tree Planting

Track individual trees or plots. Monitor species survival rates and growth over time to ensure restoration success.

FMNR

Document Farmer-Managed Natural Regeneration. Track the protection and management of self-sown trees on agricultural land.

Nurseries

Monitor seedling production and distribution hubs. Track the source of restoration materials from seed to sapling.

Rangeland

Monitor restoration of grazing lands. Track soil health and vegetation recovery in critical pastoral ecosystems.

Ready to Make an Impact?

Join over 5,000 citizens across the Great Green Wall region who are actively monitoring and documenting the regreening of our continent.