Non-wood forest products

Action Against Desertification

Tera, Niger - Women at work for preparing the field for the next rainy season by escaving mid-moon dams to save water

©FAO/Giulio Napolitano

Introduction	Action Against Desertification is an initiative of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) to restore drylands and degraded lands in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific to tackle the detrimental social, economic and environmental impact of land degradation and desertification. It is a key partner of the Great Green Wall initiative, Africa's flagship programme to combat the effects of climate change and desertification across North Africa, the Sahel and the Horn of Africa.
Country	Burkina Faso Eritrea Ethiopia Fiji Gambia Haiti Mali Mauritania Niger Nigeria Senegal Sudan
Start date	2014
Status	Ongoing
Donor	European Union
Objective / Goal	The main goal is to support the 12 countries involved, in the sustainable management and restoration of their dryland forests and rangelands. In Africa, FAO supports the expansion of the Great Green Wall initiative, Africa's flagship programme to combat the effects of climate change and desertification and building resilient landscapes and livelihoods.
Partners	National Coordination Unit for the Great Green Wall, Ministry of the Environment, Green Economy and Climate Change, Burkina Faso Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Ethiopia Department of Forestry, The Gambia National Agency for the Great Green Wall, Niger National Agency for the Great Green Wall, Nigeria National Agency for the Great Green Wall, Senegal Ministry of Fisheries and Forests, Fiji Ministry of Environment, Haiti Secretariat of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States African Union Commission European Union Global Mechanism of the UNCCD Pan-African Agency of the Great Green Wall Pacific Community (SPC) Royal Botanic Gardens of Kew Wallonie-Bruxelles International Université de Louvain, Belgium
Activities	Action Against Desertification assists local communities, government and civil society to restore drylands and to manage fragile ecosystems in a sustainable way. It employs the following activities: Land restoration: putting rural communities at the heart of restoration and upscaling interventions to meet the massive needs. Non-timber forest products: support economic growth and sustainable management of natural resources. Capacity development: strengthening capacities in sustainable land management and land restoration. Monitoring and evaluation: collecting data, keeping track of progress, measuring impact. Information sharing: knowledge exchange and awareness raising about land degradation and desertification. South-south cooperation: sharing lessons learned on how to reverse land degradation.
Impact	Africa - Key results 51 000 ha restored 4 700 000 nursery seedlings produced and planted 103 tons of seeds sown 100 native species used 81 000 direct beneficiaries Haiti - Key results 11645 ha restored 5 million seedlings planted 12 000 jobs created 15 000 liters of honey produced 9590 people trained Fiji - Key results 1 133 hectares of land restored, including mangroves 1 million seedlings planted 8 tons of seeds sown 10 200 litres of honey produced per harvest USD 92 744 generated 6300 people trained
Contact	Moctar Sacande: [email protected]
More on this topic	Action Against Desertification site
Related publications	Non-timber forest products: from restoration to income generation 30/01/2020 Action Against Desertification promotes community-based restoration approaches along value chains – from the seed to the market – for several economically significant NTFPs. Some of these products are particularly important because they can be produced across most of the core area of the Great Green Wall for the Sahara and the Sahel initiative. Great Green Wall - Action Against Desertification initiative to boost small-scale farming in Africa 30/10/2019 The Great Green Wall initiative is Africa’s ambitious response. Launched in 2007, it has rallied more than 20 African countries, international organizations, research institutes, civil society and grassroots organizations to transform the lives of millions of people by creating a mosaic of green and productive landscapes across North Africa, the Sahel and the Horn of Africa. Restoration in Action Against Desertification 30/01/2020 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.