Documentary: "The Great Green Wall", ecological and musical advocacy

Audio 02:34

By: Elisabeth Lequeret Follow | Grégoire Sauvage

An 8,000 km wall of trees stretching from Senegal to Ethiopia is at the heart of The Great Green Wall, a documentary by Jared P. Scott. This pharaonic project aims to fight against the desertification of the region due to climate change, but also to avoid growing conflicts and massive migrations.

Publicity

It is an ecological and musical plea across the Sahel countries, led by the Malian singer Inna Modja. Revealed ten years ago by her French Cancan hit , she is known for her commitment to causes that are dear to her: the fight against female circumcision, women's rights and the environment today. .  

“  This is a project that was born thanks to different people who are Fernando Meirelles, the Brazilian director who is very involved in the environment, Claude Grunitzky, a cultural actor and African media from Togo, Alexander Asen who works for United States. They said : "This project is so fantastic, and if we did a movie?" Then we worked for a few years to find the best way to tell this Great Green Wall . What was important was to tell human stories.  "

Destiny upset by climate change in the Sahel

In this film of which Inna Modja is the main character, it is a question of ecology, solidarity economy, but it is also a pretext to meet these women and these men whose destiny is seen upset by climate change in the Sahel.  

"  I listen a lot in this film, because I want to learn. I thought that I knew Africa and during this trip, I realized that I still have so much to learn and that I knew nothing about everything. It is much more complex, rich and vibrant than I thought. It made me angry at times, it made me sad, but it gave me a lot of hope. It gave me a sense of urgency. The Sahel region, 50 % of people are under 25 years of age. These young people represent human power. We must give them the opportunities to be able to build the continent.  " 

Today, 15% of this pan-African project has been able to emerge from the ground. In the documentary by Jared P. Scott, we discover in music and in the footsteps of Inna Modja the first stages of this ecological reconquest.

Committed artists

“  Music is very present in the Sahel. We have chosen artists who have all been involved for a very long time and on different causes. Didier Awadi is one of the pioneers of African hip-hop, the Songhoy Blues have lived on their skins the problem of conflicts linked to this climate change, because, the conflicts in the Sahel are very closely linked to the climate.  "  

The Great Green Wall , The Great Green Wall , would be a perfect title for a song. Because if music softens manners, it is above all the ideal vector for getting a message across. 

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