Action Against Desertification

Action Against Desertification supports african countries in the sustainable management and restoration of their dryland forests and rangelands. These efforts build on a harmonized regional strategy for the Great Green Wall for the Sahara and the Sahel Initiative, developed by FAO and partners and on action plans for each individual country. 

Large-scale restoration

Restoration is recognized as a priority by all of the countries of the Great Green Wall (GGW) in terms of intervention, due to the fact that it offers the dual benefit of biophysical, as well as socio-economic enhancement. In fact, it is estimated that 166 million hectares of the GGW core area are in need of restoration and 10 million hectares must be restored each year (Berrahmouni et al., 2016), in order to reach this target by 2030. Out of this total, GGW countries and international partners have pledged at the UNCCD COP 14 to restore 100 million hectares of degraded agro-sylvo-pastoral lands in the GGW by 2030. Moreover, African countries at the Paris climate summit in 2015 have committed substantial pledges for initiatives such as the AFR100 with the goal to also restore 100 million hectares in Africa by 2030.

Through the Action Against Desertification project, FAO has developed an innovative approach which combines enrichment planting of native woody and grass species with large-scale land preparation for rainwater harvesting and soil permeability. Enrichment planting to re-establish native species has proven to be a more effective method as opposed to natural regeneration, which tends to be very time-consuming or at times ineffective in severely degraded landscapes. In sum, this approach is a powerful tool for combating desertification and is often the only possible option for the restoration of large areas in rural/country side agro-sylvo-pastoral systems.

This approach has been tested in the field with good results through different GGW projects in different landscapes, ecosystems and countries. Several of its key contributing elements are:

• the use of high-quality restoration seeds and propagation material of well-adapted native species;
• the combined use of a mixture of grasses and woody species to maximize land cover;
• the use of mechanized land preparation techniques in order to reach the targeted scale;
• the participatory approach based on community needs and preferences for species and restoration objectives.

Non-timber forest products: from restoration to income generation

The degradation of Africa’s drylands cannot be tackled without unleashing the land’s economic potential; rural communities, therefore, need to obtain economic benefits from restoration work. Action Against Desertification in Support of the Great Green Wall (GGW) initiative, stimulates economic growth by developing forest products that are useful for communities, create jobs and generate income. Many of these commodities can be produced without damaging the ecosystems in which they grow, provided such production is based on the sustainable management, protection and restoration of dryland landscapes. Locally established green enterprises can provide many income-earning opportunities, thus incentivizing communities to participate in restoration and sustainable management (Berrahmouni, Regato and Parfondry, 2015).

Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) are useful substances, materials or commodities obtained from forests that do not require the harvesting of trees. In the past, forest departments and other government agencies have tended to pay only limited attention to NTFPs and forest ecosystem services, but this is changing. NTFPs are now more widely viewed as crucial for sustainable forest use, providing benefits for local communities and wider societies and offering an important means for development, especially in drylands.

Forests and woodlands in African drylands and in the GGW area provide a wealth of products essential for the livelihoods and well-being of local people. Many NTFPs have significant economic potential in GGW countries: each year, for example, African countries export 100 000 tonnes of gum arabic, a product in high demand in the food industry. The oil of Balanites aegyptiaca is used for cooking, as well as in cosmetics and soap, and sales of honey provide many communities with valuable revenue. People eat the leaves of the baobab tree (Adansonia spp.), and the fruits and leaves of the gao tree (Faidherbia albida) are used as fodder for animals.

AAD promotes community-based restoration approaches along entire value chains – from the seed to the market – for several economically significant NTFPs such as fodder, honey, gum arabic, balanites oil, and restoration seeds and seedlings by promoting these NTFPs from land restoration using targeted species, to harvesting, processing and marketing.