The Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games Organizing Committee (YOGOC), through its Sustainability, Impact & Legacy (SIL) department, organized a Reforestation Day this Saturday at the VDN site. This activity is part of its sustainable legacy strategy.

This initiative is part of the desire to make the Dakar 2026 YOG an event with a strong positive environmental impact.

With environmental protection as a central pillar of its approach, the YOGOC aims to promote a culture of sustainability in the communities hosting the Games. The day was marked by tree-planting activities, environmental awareness raising, and civic engagement.

The goal is to plant 100,000 trees by 2026 in several locations in the capital and at YOG competition venues and to ensure rigorous monitoring of their growth.

"Together with the YOGOC, we planted 114 trees today on the VDN. The ambition is to plant 100,000 to make the Dakar 2026 YOG green Games. Monitoring will be essential and will be done in collaboration with our services and local authorities," said Daouda Ngom, Minister of the Environment and Ecological Transition, who was present at the site.

For Ibrahima Wade, coordinator of the YOG organizing committee, this initiative is part of a responsible approach. "The YOG come with many externalities and potential impacts on the environment. It is therefore important that we commit, alongside the State and the Ministry, to reducing our ecological footprint."

This reforestation campaign, which began in the VDN, will continue in several locations in the capital as well as at all competition sites,” he maintains.