Publications
1 February 2024 FAO has released its first practical guide to using participatory video, an innovative community-led technique that monitors change in development projects and programmes, with the aim of improving sustainability in dryland forests and agrosilvopastoral systems. [more] |
11 November 2022 This policy brief gives an overview of the positive role that optimized extensive grazing livestock farming can play in the management and restoration of drylands’ forests and lands. [more] |
30 September 2022 'Grazing with Trees’ gives a thorough assessment of the positive role that optimized extensive grazing livestock farming can play in the management and restoration of drylands’ forests and lands with trees. It assesses and provides sound evidence on the benefits of applying an integrated landscape approach and utilizing farmers and pastoralists’ knowledge to halt desertification, increase resilience, and enhance food security under the actual changing scenario. [more] |
23 August 2022 The Humanitarian-Development-Peace nexus recognizes conflict as a threat multiplier to climate change and seeks to integrate conflict sensitivity into policies and actions around natural resources. Competition for natural resources in dryland areas often leads to conflict between host communities and displaced people. This policy brief evidences this fragility of ecosystems in humanitarian settings through a thorough review of three innovative projects implemented by FAO, CGIAR and CARE, consultations with Think Tank organizations in Africa and Middle East and practitioners on the ground. [more] |
16 May 2022 The study confirms the existence of 1 075 million hectares of presumed drylands that are under threat from unsustainable use and climate change. This is in addition to the 6.1 billion hectares of official drylands that already cover 41 percent of the planet’s land surface and are home to 2 billion people. All these areas contain high levels of biodiversity and are home to a large number of people reliant on agriculture to sustain their livelihoods, this is why it's so important to research, analyse and work to protect them. The report contains concrete information on the environmental and ecological value of these dryland areas, and key recommendations for actions to limit land degradation, sustain biodiversity and mitigate climate change. [more] |
24 September 2021 The FAO-CARE- CGIAR joint technical working paper will contribute to developing an FAO position and improved understanding of the links between, and risks of, climate change and various kinds of conflict as related to FAO’s mandate, with particular attention to crisis contexts in dryland forests and agrosilvopastoral areas. More broadly, this will feed into UN system-level discussion and processes related to the multidimensional nature of Climate Security. [more] |
13 July 2021 This policy brief is intended to inform decision-makers of nine transformational actions to sustain dryland production systems under the impact of climate change. It highlights the relevance of the local context for interventions and the importance of traditional and tested adaptive agrosilvopastoral strategies for building resilience. [more] |
21 June 2021 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. [more] |
6 April 2020 This publication supports processes related to rural communities’ resilience in implementing land restoration of the Great Green Wall Programme on the ground. It serves a dual purpose of consolidating biophysical operations and socio-economic assessments, and is mainly built on five-year interventions and practical experiences gathered through Action Against Desertification. [more] |
5 December 2019 This publication presents the results of the first global assessment of trees, forests and land use in these lands. The assessment breaks new methodological ground: it relies on the visual interpreation of freely available satellite images, carried out by more than 200 experts in a series of regional workshops. [more] |
12 February 2019 Water – drinkable, usable water – is likely to be one of the most limiting resources in the future, given the growing global population, the high water demand of most agricultural production systems, and the confounding effects of climate change. [more] |
14 November 2018 Drylands cover about 41 percent of the Earth’s land surface and are characterized by a scarcity of water (Box 1 contains a full definition). About 90 percent of the estimated 2 billion people living in drylands are in developing countries (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005). The majority of these people depend on forests and other wooded lands, grasslands and trees on farms to meet basic needs for food, medicines, shelter, cooking, heating, wood, and fodder for livestock, and for income. [more] |
13 December 2017 The State of Mediterranean Forests 2018 analyzes the circum-Mediterranean region, a territoryencompassing thirty-one countries and a wide range of political, economic, social and environmentalcontexts. Today, human activity has placed substantial pressure on this environment, the impact of which is feltdifferently in the northern, southern and eastern sub-regions. [more] |
20 November 2017 The Great Green Wall for the Saharaand the Sahel Initiative is Africa’s flagship initiative tobuild prosperity and resilience in over 20 countriesaround the Sahara. It was built to combat theeffects of climate change and desertification andaddress food insecurity and poverty. Endorsed bythe African Union in 2007 as a game-changer inAfrica’s drylands, the initiative aims to transformthe lives of millions of people by creating a greatmosaic of green and productive landscapes acrossNorth Africa, Sahel and the Horn. [more] |
15 November 2017 Desertification and land degradation are very serious challenges. They lead to hunger and poverty, driving unemployment, forced migration and conflict, while amplifying climate risks as drought and floods. But recent successes show that these problems are not insurmountable. Bold action and investments in sustainable land management can boost food security, improve livelihoods and help people adapt to climate change. Action Against Desertification supports local communities, government and civil society of six African countries - Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, the Gambia, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal – as well as Fiji and Haiti [more] |
16 October 2017 DRIP is an interactive web portal with an online tool to support practitioners, project managers and policy-makers in compiling and analysing data and capturing and sharing lessons learned from restoration initiatives, thus advancing the monitoring and assessment of these initiatives globally. DRIP was developed and tested with the active participation of dryland restoration experts and practitioners worldwide. [more] |
20 December 2016 Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) are essential to keep track of the progress made and to measure the bio‑physical and socio‑economic impact of the activities carried out under Action Against Desertification. M&E also helps Action Against Desertification deliver results by making sure that the objectives are clearly defined and achievable, that data collection is well planned and that data are used for decisionmaking and to continuously improve the programme. [more] |
20 December 2016 Capacity development is at the heart of Action Against Desertification’s efforts to combat land degradation, desertification and drought. A capacity development strategy is in place to strengthen the capacities of individuals and organizations in sustainable land management and restoration, and to support the establishment of an enabling policy and legal environment at local, national, and regional level to increase the impact and ensure sustainability of activities carried out under Action Against Desertification. [more] |
20 December 2016 Restoration activities led by FAO and its partners demonstrate that land degradation around the Sahara is not yet irreversible. Action Against Desertification promotes a restoration approach that places communities at the heart of restoration by putting scientific plant expertise at their service and focusing on the needs of communities for useful and native plant species and preferences for restoration in support of their livelihoods, mainly farming and cattle grazing. [more] |
18 December 2016 The African Wall: An African partnership to tackle desertification and land degradation [more] |
6 May 2016 This flyer offers an overview on the main outcomes of the five-days workshop "Drylands Monitoring Week 2015": a roadmap for collaborative action in the drylands, and the “Rome Promise”. [more] |
5 December 2013 Forests and Climate Change Working Paper - 09 [more] |
14 March 2012 An overview of the status and potential of forests and rangelands, their potential contribution to national economies and their impact on dependent populations in the Near East. [more] |
14 March 2012 An overview of the current state and issues related to the growing of oil trees in the Near East. It examines the opportunities from/and benefits of oil trees that are thought of relevance to decision-makers, forest and range managers and other stakeholders and provides the type of information that can facilitate the decision making on policy options and strategies. [more] |
9 March 2012 An in-depth assessment of public forest institutions and policy reform in the Near East region, in particular Sudan, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and Syrian Arab Republic. In addition every effort was made to capture the experience in other countries in the region and to relate them to the larger social, economic and political context. The synthesis highlights emerging opportunities for bringing timely changes in forestry institutions so that forests and woodlands are able to deliver the full range of goods and services required by society. [more] |
13 May 2011 Mediterranean forests are considered as one of the biodiversity hotspots in the world. They provide a diversity of forest products (wood and non-wood forest products)which are the basis for socio-economic development in the Mediterranean, contributing therefore to food security and poverty alleviation in rural areas. The committee on Mediterranean Forest Questions ( Silva Mediterranea ) of FAO identified the urgent need to launch the preparation of the State of Mediterranean Forests (SoMF) to enhance communication and strengthen partnership on forest issues at the regional level. This working paper presents the concept and the process to be put in place to achieve a thorough monitoring system on forest resources and policies in the Mediterranean, based on a complete set of indicators comparable at the regional scale. [more] |
21 July 2010 Following the request of sub-Saharan countries and partners, FAO has coordinated the preparation of these guidelines with the participation of a wide range of partners and experts. The guidelines are based on widely accepted international standards for sustainable forest management and are categorized under nine principles. They are intended to support those responsible for planning and managing forests and related resources in addressing the complex and inter-related issues and drivers behind forest degradation and desertification. [more] |
15 April 2009 Working paper RNEO1-09 [more] |
last updated: Friday, February 5, 2021