Global Guidelines For The Restoration Of Degraded Forests And Landscapes In Drylands

"Drylands cover nearly half of the earth's land surface and are home to one-third of the global population. They face extraordinary challenges, including those posed by desertification, biodiversity loss, poverty, food insecurity and climate change. Up to 20 percent of the world's drylands are degraded, and people living there are often locked into a vicious circle of poverty, unsustainable practices and environmental degradation. It is clear that serious efforts are needed to arrest dryland degradation and restore degraded lands, and the simple but urgent aim of these guidelines is to support such efforts It is the first time that global guidelines on dryland restoration are made available. These guidelines target two main groups - policymakers and other decision-makers, and practitioners - because both have the power to bring about positive change. While they should be tailored to suit regional and local contexts, they present the essential components for the design, implementation and sustainability of restoration initiatives that can help build ecological and social resilience and generate benefits for local livelihoods. As illustrated by the rich case studies provided, the guidelines involve a vast range of actions, from on-the-ground activities such as habitat protection, assisted natural regeneration, sand-dune stabilization and planting, to policy improvements, provision of financial incentives, capacity development, and continuous monitoring and learning. Moreover, they show that restoration needs to be considered across the entire market value chain, from seed to end-product, as well as at the landscape level, including the mosaic of land uses, needs and expectations of interest groups."--Publisher's description.

The Mediterranean region has more than 25 million hectares of Mediterranean forests and about 50 million hectares of other Mediterranean wooded lands. They make crucial contributions to rural development, poverty alleviation, food security, as well as, the agricultural, water, tourism, and energy sectors. Changes in climate, societies, and lifestyles to create appropriate financial incentives and tools. in the Mediterranean region could have serious negative consequences for forests, with the potential to lead to the loss or diminution of those contributions and to a wide range of economic, social and environmental problems. In the future, Mediterranean forests will support agriculture and human wellbeing. It is therefore crucial to improve policies, practices, and to promote sustainable management to provide social and economic benefits as well as to increase the resilience of ecosystems and societies. This new edition of the State of Mediterranean Forests aims to demonstrate the importance of Mediterranean forests to implementing solutions to tackle global issues such as climate change and population increase. Part 1: The Mediterranean landscape: importance and threats. Despite the important natural capital provided by Mediterranean forests, they are under threats from climate change and population increase and other subsidiary drivers of forest degradation. Part 2: Mediterranean forest-based solutions. Forests and landscape restoration, adaptation of forests and adaptation using forests, climate change mitigation, and conserving biodiversity are additional and complementary approaches to address the drivers of forest degradation to the benefit of populations and the environment. Part 3: Creating an enabling environment to scale up solutions. To scale up and replicate forest-based solutions, there is a need to change the way we see the role of forests in the economy, to put in place relevant policies, more widespread participatory approaches, to recognize the economic value of the goods and services provided by forests and, ultimately, to create appropriate financial incentives and tools.

This book presents various aspects of agroforestry research and development, as well as the latest trends in degraded landscape management. Over the last four decades, agroforestry research (particularly on degraded landscapes) has evolved into an essential problem-solving science, e.g. in terms of sustaining agricultural productivity, improving soil health and biodiversity, enhancing ecosystem services, supporting carbon sequestration and mitigating climate change. This book examines temperate and tropical agroforestry systems around the world, focusing on traditional and modern practices and technologies used to rehabilitate degraded lands. It covers the latest research advances, trends and challenges in the utilization and reclamation of degraded lands, e.g. urban and peri-urban agroforestry, reclamation of degraded landscapes, tree-based multi-enterprise agriculture, domestication of high-value halophytes, afforestation of coastal areas, preserving mangroves and much more. Given its scope, the book offers a valuable asset for a broad range of stakeholders including farmers, scientists, researchers, educators, students, development/extension agents, environmentalists, policy/decision makers, and government and non-government organizations.

The “Action Against Desertification in support of the implementation of the Great Green Wall for the Sahara and the Sahel Initiative, the UNCCD action plans in Fiji and Haiti, and South–South Cooperation in the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States” project (AAD) worked with eight countries in Africa, the Caribbean and Asia to tackle the detrimental social, economic and environmental impacts of land degradation and desertification (2014 to 2020). It was implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and partners, with majority of funding from the European Union and co-funding from diverse partners. The project contributed to improving the conditions and productivity of agrosilvipastoral landscapes and the capacity to plan land restoration and manage forest and land resources. Livelihood improvements and concrete positive incidence on household income, food security, crops and milk production, and community interactions. It increased awareness and support policy makers developing intervention strategies that address D/LDD. The large-scale, heavy machinery-based technical intervention logic was found appropriate to address desertification/land degradation and drought (D/LDD) in specific conditions and countries. The geospatial study estimated the contribution of Action Against Desertification (AAD) to carbon sequestration to be between 384 000 and 1.27 million tonnes of carbon sequestered. The evaluation recommendations include further investments in training; building awareness and addressing climate change and land degradation; increasing political and policy coherence; guaranteeing sustainability and buy-in from beneficiaries; building in sustainable financing mechanisms at all stakeholder levels; increasing opportunities; and developing non-timber forest product (NTFP) value chains to create and develop viable markets for the products.

With climate change impacts already felt in the world’s drylands, there is an urgent need for action, at various scales and initiated by different stakeholders, to ensure the sustainability of food production and livelihoods in these regions in the coming decades. There is also the need to rapidly establish baselines, assess and start monitoring progress on sustainability, emerging as result of the action taken. To aid in this effort, this paper provides a short list of expected transformations (under each of the three sustainability pillars) for guiding the planning and implementation of policy, governance and practice-level actions. Gender and indigenous people’s rights and knowledge will be considered cross-cutting issues. The expected transformations will be shared with and agreed by dryland experts and practitioners and will be complemented with additional relevant information sources and indicators. However, it is recommended that national and subnational governments, programmes, projects and individual practitioners and experts define the indicators they will use for measuring their own progress towards the expected transformations, based on the availability of data and specific national and local conditions.The paper will also present case studies portraying actions that have led to progress in sustainability and are directly related to the expected transformations. A related policy brief Blooming Drylands will complement the paper and offer practical recommendations on how policymakers can reach the expected transformations.

The purpose of this report is to assess the current implementation of forest and landscape restoration (FLR) in Africa. It presents the context for FLR on the African continent, highlights major FLR initiatives, and provides an overview of FLR in Africa at the start of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021–2030). It identifies key challenges, opportunities, actors and processes, illustrated with some case studies. Data collection was both primary (interviews) and secondary (extensive desk research). The report contributes to tracking progress on the implementation of AFR100 and other FLR initiatives in Africa on the ground. It provides a baseline for the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration and is expected to be updated at regular intervals. The report is prepared under the jointly implemented regional technical cooperation programme by FAO Regional Office for Africa (RAF) and the African Union Development Agency-NEPAD (AUDA-NEPAD) “Support to the implementation and monitoring of the African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative (AFR100)” and in close collaboration with AFR100 Management Team members and partners. It is also responding to the recommendation of the 22nd Session of FAO African Forestry and Wildlife Commission1, held in March 2020 in South Africa. The report is structured as follows: Chapter 1 introduces the importance of Africa’s forests and tree-based landscapes and to the challenges they and their people face, as well as the relevance of restoration and the global policy context. The next chapter presents an overview of FLR and restoration more generally. The third chapter provides a more detailed overview for Africa’s subregions of the current status of forests with examples of FLR initiatives (or other relevant ones that may not have the FLR label but are in fact aligned with FLR). Chapter 4 then reviews some key success factors for FLR in Africa. Chapter 5 presents opportunities going forward and remaining challenges. The last chapter is more forward-looking and speculative, highlighting potential priorities for FLR in the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.

The purpose of this concept is to establish the guidelines and suggest options to enable reaching the FAO/GEF project “Sustainable management of forests in mountain and valley areas of Uzbekistan” objectives in Component 2, related to carbon sequestration, restoring protective functions of forests, reducing soil, wind and water erosion, with the active engagement of farmers and communities. The restoration/regeneration activities focus on pistachio orchards/agroforestry, mountain juniper-based forests, shelterbelts, small firewood plantations, and reducing degradation rates in mixed forests.

This edition of Nature & Faune journal explores the science and innovations (technical, social and policy) that can support the achievement of the African dream of restoring 100 million hectares of its degraded land. Articles in this edition share experiences on challenges, opportunities and successful restoration, including farmer managed natural regeneration, improved management of smallholder woodlots, reforestation, evergreen agriculture with intercropped trees, and associated sustainable land management practices such as water harvesting and erosion control. Africa’s Great Green Wall is presented in this edition as a transformative model for rural communities’ sustainable development. In particular the lessons learned from the “Action Against Desertification” programme funded by the European Union and implemented by FAO with partner countries and organizations, are discussed, paving a way towards the implementation of African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative. Initiatives to address land degradation and desertification trends in Africa, promote sustainable land management, and restoration of degraded forests and landscapes include Africa’s Great Green Wall initiative, and 2016’s African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative – AFR100. Most of the articles dwelt on how efforts to this end are being pursued.