Appraising and selecting conservation measures to mitigate desertification and land degradation based on stakeholder participation and global best practices

Abstract

Most desertification research focuses on degradation assessments without putting sufficient emphasis on prevention and mitigation strategies, although the concept of sustainable land management (SLM) is increasingly being acknowledged. A variety of already applied conservation measures exist at the local level, but they are not adequately recognised, evaluated and shared, either by land users, technicians, researchers, or policy makers. Likewise, collaboration between research and implementation is often insufficient. The aim of this paper is to present a new methodology for a participatory process of appraising and selecting desertification mitigation strategies, and to present first experiences from its application in the EUfunded DESIRE project. The methodology combines a collective learning and decision approach with the use of evaluated global best practices. In three parts, it moves through a concise process, starting with identifying land degradation and locally applied solutions in a stakeholder workshop, leading to assessing local solutions with a standardised evaluation tool, and ending with jointly selecting promising strategies for implementation with the help of a decision support tool. The methodology is currently being applied in 16 study sites. Preliminary analysis from the application of the first part of the methodology shows that the initial stakeholder workshop results in a good basis for stakeholder cooperation, and in promising land conservation practices for further assessment. Study site research teams appreciated the valuable results, as burning issues and promising options emerged from joint reflection. The methodology is suitable to initiate mutual learning among different stakeholder groups and to integrate local and scientific knowledge.

Targeting of intervention areas to reduce reservoir sedimentation in the Tana catchment (Kenya) using SWAT

“…Support to farmers to implement certain practices should therefore be well targeted so as to dedicate the resources exactly to the areas where most profit can be expected. Moreover, decisions over which measures to implement where are far more effective when taken in a well-designed participatory process with the involvement of all relevant stakeholders (Reed 2008, Schwilch et al 2009). …”

Soil and Water Conservation Strategies in Cape Verde (Cabo Verde in Portuguese) and Their Impacts on Livelihoods: An Overview from the Ribeira Seca Watershed

“…Stakeholders involvement in the project was accomplished through workshops following a standard approach developed for sharing of local knowledge [6,10,22] and through WOCAT questionnaires that generated data for the mapping.…”

“…SLM technologies include agronomic, vegetative, structural, and management measures to control land degradation and enhance productivity in the field [6]; thus, SWC measures implemented in Cape Verde promote the SLM concept. The increased efforts and financial resources allocated to the promotion of SLM calls for adequate monitoring and assessment (M&A) of their impact and benefits.…”

Integrating knowledge exchange and the assessment of dryland management alternatives – A learning-centered participatory approach

“…Land condition results from coupled humaneenvironmental processes; assessing land management should therefore consider biophysical as well as socioeconomic and cultural criteria that relate to ecosystem services and to human well-being (UNCCD, 2009; Schwilch et al, 2011;Sommer et al, 2011). Furthermore, sustainable management goals are based on social values, which can be effectively captured and used via participatory approaches .…”

“…Accordingly, a variety of participatory methods and tools have been developed over the last decades (see for example van Asselt and Rijkens-Klomp, 2002) and have been increasingly incorporated into decision-making and integrated assessment in land and water management programs (e.g., Mostert, 2003;Salter et al, 2010). However, stakeholder participation in the evaluation of dryland restoration and sustainable dryland management is very scarce (Bautista et al, 2010;Schwilch et al, 2011), and participatory methods that effectively translate the evaluation of previous and ongoing management and restoration actions into new learning and enhanced capacity to responding to land degradation have received limited attention (Rojo et al, 2012;Schwilch et al, 2009Schwilch et al, , 2011Derak and Cortina, 2014;Kong et al, 2014).…”