Overview
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.
Action Against Desertification supports local communities, government and civil society in six African countries - Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, The Gambia, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal – as well as in Fiji and Haiti to restore degraded land and to manage fragile ecosystems in a sustainable way. It is using a mix of 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.
Action Against Desertification was launched in 2014 and is implemented by FAO and partners with funding from the European Union in the framework of the 10th European Development Fund (EDF).
