the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, in collaboration with African and other regional partners, launched the Action Against Desertification program to build on the GGWSSI. Nigeria created an interim agency to support GGW development. Since 2014, the eco-friendly search engine Ecosia has been partnered with the local population in Burkina Faso. Ecosia spread its campaign to Ethiopia in 2017 and to Senegal the following year. According to Ecosia, it has planted over 15,117,046 trees and were restored in Burkina Faso; in Senegal it planted over 1,424,748 and restored and planted over 9,963,757 trees and restored in Ethiopia as of September 2021. Drylands Monitoring Week (2015) assessed the state of dryland measurement and initiated collaboration toward large-scale, comprehensive monitoring. Planning (including choices of vegetation and work with local populations) and plantings/land restoration followed (including in Ethiopia, Senegal, Nigeria and Sudan). In 2016, 21 countries had projects related to the GGW, including farmer-supported natural regeneration. Bare land restoration has been successfully demonstrated in Burkina Faso, although security is an issue in the face of terrorist activity. In September 2017, the BBC reported that progress was best in Senegal. As of March 2019, 15 per cent of the wall was complete with significant gains made in Nigeria, Senegal and Ethiopia. In Senegal, over 11 million trees had been planted. Nigeria has restored 4.9 million ha (12 million acres; 49,000 km2) of degraded land and Ethiopia has reclaimed 15 million ha (37 million acres; 150,000 km2). In September 2020, it was reported that the Great Green Wall had only covered 4% of the planned area, with only 4 million hectares (9.8 million acres) planted. Ethiopia has had the most success with 5.5 billion seedlings planted, but Chad has only planted 1.1 million. Doubt was raised over the survival rate of the 12 million trees planted in Senegal. Partners The Initiative brings together more than 20 countries, including Algeria, Burkina Faso, Benin, Chad, Cape Verde, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Somalia, Sudan, The Gambia and Tunisia. Regional and international partners include: African Forest Forum (AFF) African Union Commission (AUC) Association for the promotion of education and training abroad (APEFE) Arab Maghreb Union (UMA) Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD) Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) European Union (EU) Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Global Mechanism of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (GM-UNCCD) Intergovernmental Authority