Pope Francis has lauded the initiative of young people for the 'Laudato Tree' Initiative to grow a wall of trees 8,000km long and 15km wide across the African continent, from Dakar to Djibouti.

On Sunday, May 10, he recalled the 40th anniversary of St. Pope John Paul's first pastoral journey to Africa, during which he raised the alarm regarding the plight of people of the Sahel region devastated by drought.

"May 10 ,1980… St. Pope John Paul II gave voice to the cry of the populations of the Sahel, sorely tried by drought… Today I congratulate the group of young people for the launch of the 'Laudato Tree' Initiative", explaining that "The aim is to plant at least one million trees throughout the region of the Sahel, which will become part of the "Great Green Wall of Africa".

Francis during the Regina Caeli address also expressed the hope that "many will follow the example of solidarity given by these young people."

The Sahel region lies between Sudan's Savanna to the south and the Sahara Desert to the north, across West and Central Africa. It has long experienced terrible droughts that have had an adverse impact on the local environment, society and people.

The 'Laudato Tree' Initiative is a response to Pope Francis' encyclical Laudato Si' and aims be a living and life-giving expression of that letter.

It is an initiative of young people, begun in the United States, in solidarity with the youth of the Sahel.

It is led by 16-year-old Vivienne Harr, who at the age 8 made national headlines when she began to make homemade lemonade to combat child slavery across the world.

Vivienne, with the help of her boyfriend, Sidney Diosdado, 17, have created a website www.laudatotree.org to help drive the initiative.

While Vivienne has chosen to champion Africa's Great Green Wall to combat desertification her brother, Turner Harr, 10, is an Associate Producer on the award-winning feature documentary 'The Great Green Wall' by Make Waves Productions.

The 'wall' when complete, will traverse 11 countries of the Sahel.

The project was formally adopted by the African Union in 2007 and is supported by the United Nations.

The concept of the Great Green Wall was first developed in the mid-1980s by Thomas Sankara, president of Burkina Fasco from 1983 to1987.

Vivienne chose to launch the 'Laudato Tree' Initiative on May 10, 2020, the 40th anniversary of John Paul II's appeal on behalf of the suffering people of the Sahel, at Ouagadougou Cathedral, Burkina Faso, during his first visit to Africa.

In 1984 the papal foundation, the John Paul II Foundation for the Sahel, was established.

Vivienne has chosen to work with the John Paul II Foundation for the Sahel that is committed to helping Africa grow the Great Green Wall through the engagement of its youth and local communities in the Sahel.

The aim of Vivienne's movement, as indicated by Pope Francis, is to inspire young people, beginning in the United States, to support the youth of the Sahel in growing at least 1,000,000 trees on the Great Green Wall.