Global Dryland Ecosystem Programme (G-DEP): Africa consultative meeting report

Abstract

In order to enhance and restore the ecosystems of natural capital in African arid regions, the Global Dryland Ecosystem Programme (G-DEP) consultative meeting was hosted in Dakar, Senegal, from 23 to 25 September 2019. This paper details the first African meeting of the G-DEP. Consultative meeting reviewed preceding dryland ecosystems case studies, identified vulnerable arid and semi-arid regions, and proposed sustainable solutions to problems. It also identified the successes and failures of previous attempts to improve vulnerable ecosystems and ultimately formed an action plan to improve these attempts. Climate, ecosystems, and livelihoods for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Great Green Wall Initiative (GGWI) for Sahara and Sahel, and China-Africa cooperation on science, technology, and innovation are three extra main sections concerned of the meeting. Separately, more specific topics as the complicated relationship between these natural processes and human activity, including pastoralism, soil restoration, and vegetation regenerate techniques, were fully discussed. Consultative meeting also identified the positive effects international collaboration can have on dryland regions, specifically in the capacity of sharing information, technology, and innovation on purpose to develop a joint proposal for long-term research programs in African arid and semi-arid areas. Moreover, meetings that review the progress made on ecosystem management for the sustainable livelihoods in Africa, identification of priority areas, and the development and implementation of ecosystem programs for proper research and collaboration in African arid and semi-arid zones, have been proposed as strategic recommendations to enhance the global partnership for sustainable development. Furthermore, as the outcomes of the workshop, there are three steps proposed to handle African dryland climate changes, several aspects suggested to solve current dilemmas of the GGWI, and a series of actions recommended for G-DEP related activities in Africa.

Assessment of spatiotemporal variations of ecosystem service values and hotspots in a dryland: A case‐study in Pakistan

“…A large number of ES are provided by dryland ecosystems, storing 46% of the Earth's terrestrial biomass and containing approximately one‐third of the hotspots of biodiversity (Berdugo et al, 2020; Huang et al, 2015; Lu et al, 2018; Wei et al, 2021). Variations in ecosystem services will further directly or indirectly affect human beings, through services such as water and food security, poverty, land degradation, sustainable agriculture, livestock health, and natural hazards (Lu et al, 2018; Peng et al, 2020; B. Zhang et al, 2010; D. Zhang et al, 2017). Therefore, it is necessary to examine spatiotemporal variations in ecosystem services and hotspots in drylands to enhance the livelihoods of local people and sustainable development.…”

The Social Impacts of Sustainable Land Management in Great Green Wall Countries: An Evaluative Framework Based on the Capability Approach

“…Political factors: Participation, numerous articles argued for community participation [68][69][70][71][72], including, specifically, in the selection of species [16], in strategizing [64], in management [73] and in monitoring and evaluation [74]. There were also a number of authors who brought attention to Tax and fiscal policy as important factors in the success of SLM interventions; these included reference to increased fiscal spending [68,74,75], subsidization [76], the design of social safety net programs [62] and tax regimes [77]. Finally, a range of Other Policy changes were suggested, including technological support and technical expertise [68,70,78,79], institutional reform and integration [15,69,74,80,81] and Public-Private Partnerships [74].…”

“…In relation to general Well-being, authors argued that SLM can improve general quality of life [58], and the livelihood and well-being [90] of project beneficiaries. Others focused more specifically on Income [28,58,91,92] and Jobs [75,90]. Some mentioned various kinds of Productivity increase, including increased crop diversity [28], yields of crops [60,90], animals [58], wood and fodder [90], while some pointed out neutral [28] or negative effects [93], such as the loss of grazing lands for pastoralists [92].…”

“…Some mentioned various kinds of Productivity increase, including increased crop diversity [28], yields of crops [60,90], animals [58], wood and fodder [90], while some pointed out neutral [28] or negative effects [93], such as the loss of grazing lands for pastoralists [92]. Some studies focused on Health [91,94], food and Nutrition [28,75,82,90,92]; improved Gender equality [88,92,95]; changes in Other assets, including the availability of wood for fuel and construction [58,96]; changes in access to water resources, both positive [95] and negative [92,97]; reduced manure use for fuel [98]; carbon sequestration [69,81]; and bio-diversity [81]. Some studies pointed to broader social effects such as a rise in inward Migration [28,94] and Conflict, both between social groups [68,92] and with wildlife [99].…”

Unveiling the Past, Current and Future of Global Sustainable Livelihoods Research by Visual and Quantitative Analysis

“…Subsequently, the United Nations Millennium Declaration, adopted in 2000, explicitly set the goal of halving extreme poverty by 2015 from the 1990 level for the rst time of an international convention, an international document with development goals focused on vulnerable groups and the achievement of sustainable livelihoods. 2015 saw the United Nations again adopt the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (Editorial, 2018), which again emphasizes the achievement of sustainable livelihoods as the core of global sustainable development goals 2030 (SDG 2030 contains 17 goals, 169 sub-goals, and 232 targets, of which more than 160 are directly or indirectly related to sustainable livelihoods) (Editorial, 2018;Peng et al, 2020;Zhilin et al, 2020), fully re ecting the importance of sustainable livelihoods in global sustainable development, and at the same time, the concept of sustainable development provides a clearer and more integrated approach to addressing global poverty, providing target guidance for achieving global sustainable livelihoods.…”