The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the African Union Commission (AUC) recorded 7 billion trees growing outside forests across Africa, a total never previously documented. The finding emerged from the Africa Open DEAL initiative, the first continent-wide survey to generate consistent, digital land-use data for Africa.
The survey, conducted between 2018 and 2020, examined over 300,000 sampling points. It uncovered larger forest and arable areas than earlier estimates, along with 350 million hectares of cropland—more than twice the European Union’s total. The effort also pinpointed 393 million hectares of land with restoration potential within the Great Green Wall initiative’s boundaries.
Mapping land use with unprecedented detail
Analysts used Collect Earth, an open-source tool developed by FAO with Google’s support. Each sampling point, roughly half a hectare in size, was evaluated for more than 100 factors, including tree counts, farmland, wildfires, and infrastructure. High-resolution imagery enabled teams to assess remote or inaccessible regions, leading to the discovery of the 7 billion trees.
FAO Director-General QU Dongyu described the initiative as proof that science and collaboration can improve agri-food systems. “It supports transformation for better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and better lives for all,” he stated during an online presentation.
Josefa Sacko, the AUC Commissioner for Agriculture and Sustainable Environment, said the findings offered hope. “This collaboration has shown we can still change course,” she noted. “We can restore degraded land, stop desertification, address climate change, and bring back hope for humanity.”
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Data opens new possibilities for climate and land management
The survey’s results provide governments and organizations with a clearer view of land-use changes over the past 20 years. Countries can now monitor deforestation, urban expansion into cropland, and wetland loss more accurately. The data also reveals opportunities for restoration, climate action, and sustainable agricultural practices.
Abebe Haile-Gabriel, FAO’s Assistant Director-General for Africa, addressed the contradiction of hunger in a region with vast cropland. “We now have reliable information to use in our fight against hunger,” he said. This new digital geospatial technology brings great opportunities to data users and provides open access to earth observation and climate data with free computational capacity.
For farmers and rural communities, the findings could lead to more precise support. Identifying where trees grow outside forests may help expand agroforestry—combining crops with trees to enhance soil health and yields. The same information could guide tree-planting efforts to slow desertification or protect watersheds. The goal extends beyond counting trees; it aims to equip governments and local groups with actionable tools.
The project was funded by the European Union, Germany, and Turkey, and involved 30 African countries, the Panafrican Agency for the Great Green Wall, and the Southern Africa Development Community.
The data’s precision allows for targeted interventions in regions previously overlooked due to limited information.
