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Natural Resource Management: Reclaiming Lost Land

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Documents

Presenter: Arega Yirga, UN World Food Programme; Moderator:  Penelope Anderson, Director of Food Security, Mercy Corps

Farmers raising either crops or livestock are increasingly faced with abnormal climate patterns, which can stress plants, decrease yields and lead to the erosion of vital natural resources. Such changes are hitting the Horn of Africa especially hard, with increased frequency of drought, reduced access to water and other impacts. This is endangering hard-won food security among vulnerable households and threatening livelihoods across the region. New strategies to build resilience will have little success unless larger land degradation issues are addressed. 

This session explored many of the causes of land degradation as well as some promising practices related to reclaiming lost land. Land degradation is a root cause for low productivity of land as well as drought. This degradation has many causes including a breakdown of traditional agricultural practices, increased population pressure, deforestation, and uncontrolled grazing.

Arega highlighted a number of promising practices that reduce stress on the land including: using traditional compost as fertilizer, smaller-scale irrigation, and adopting income generating activities beyond farming. In order for new strategies to be successful it is important to give communities a sense of ownership. This can be done by demonstrating the link between individuals, the community, and their environment. Communities must also be involved in the decision-making process from the very beginning.

 

The Way Forward: Participants made recommendations in the following areas:

Knowledge Sharing

Systems need to improve for transferring knowledge and skills across people and across locations.

Adaptive capacity requires accelerated technological change but existing technologies are not known to Title II beneficiaries. Better knowledge systems are needed for this technology transfer.

Learning visits can help identify and share best practices – especially with regard to pastoralist/regional experience sharing.

Processes

As an approach, climate smart agriculture includes sustainability, productivity (production and profitability included), and stability (resilience), but a process needs to be undertaken to define how to include equity.

Research and Evidence Base

Greater collaboration between implementers and research organizations is needed to better understand effective, impactful program approaches.

Program Design

Three opportunities should be taken better advantage of: 1) retrieving archival data (e.g. on soil loss) 2) using proven models such as soil loss equations 3) using current satellite technology (including for data for baselines).

Apply- low cost, easily applicable, proven technique at the house hold level, such as Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration

Promote traditional agroforestry practices, such as inter-planting trees on farm landscape

Support/ diversify livelihoods options for farmers, and give them incentives to protect the environment as the first step for natural resource management

Agriculture has to be more integrated into natural resource development, including making new horticulture varieties and stress tolerant varieties available to NGOs working in agriculture

Capacity Strengthening and Tool Development

Identify and develop tools and information to better design and implement projects that would help communities to better adapt to climate change, including development of integrated guidelines.