Senegal: Senegal Mulls 'Green Wall' to Stop Desert Advance

Senegal is pushing to plant a "Great Green Wall" of trees stretching for nearly 7,000 km (4,375 miles), from Dakar to Djibouti, to stop the relentless advance of the Sahara desert. Environment Minister Modou Fada Diagne said the West African country, which hosted a meeting of experts this week, would start planting trees this year in the eastern Ferlo region which borders Mauritania and Mali. "Instead of waiting for the desert to come to us, we need to attack it," Fada Diagne told Reuters in an interview late last Thursday.