The Great Green Wall and Sahelian Environmental Imaginaries - Green Fix and the persistence of a Policy Idea
Lead Research Organisation:
Institute of Development Studies
Department Name: Research Department
Abstract
The necessity to address the challenges of climate change and environmental degradation is usually expressed in terms of visions of desirable futures, which are implemented through large-scale green transformation programmes. This research project aims to explore high-end conceptualisations of African green futures by studying how ideas of greening the Sahel region have developed, persisted, and been contested. It understands future visions of green transformation as 'socio-technical imaginaries', i.e., as the application of modern technologies for a 'technical green fix'. The findings will be used to explore the ways in which contested and changing visions of green transformations can provide a contribution to long standing debates on the persistence of ideas, with the tools and methods to develop an interdisciplinary approach to studying environmental socio-technical imaginaries. This study will ultimately help challenge entrenched imaginaries, and their associated governance and political economic relations. This will be achieved through a participatory exhibition, focus groups, interviews and archival research and the research findings will be shared through a final conference, academic publications, and the production of a comic book. The study will be conducted in Burkina Faso, Senegal, and Ethiopia by an interdisciplinary team involving political historians, human geographers, and social and cultural anthropologists.
Description | Introduction of the project to the British delegation at the embassy |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Introduction of the project to the British delegation at the embassy, Abidjan, 15 January 2024 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
Description | Introduction of the project to the EU Ambassador in Code D'iVoire |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Introduction of the project to the EU Ambassador in Cote d'Ivoire, 19 December 2023 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Presentation of project to the Pan African agency of the Great Green Wall and most of the National Agencies |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Presentation of the project to the Pan African agency of the Great Green Wall and most of the National Agencies, 16 March 2023, Ferlo region Senegal |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Presentation of the project to UNCCD |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Presentation of the project to UNCCD, Bonn, 21 February 2024 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
Description | Presentation of the project to the French Development Agency |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Presentation of the project to the French Development Agency, Paris , 19 February 2024 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |