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Sustainable Forest Management Impact Program on Dryland Sustainable Landscapes

Dryland Sustainable Landscapes (DSL-IP) Community of Practices


The DSL-IP Communities of Practice (CoP) are spaces in which multi-directional, tailored, and thematic information is exchanged between the program stakeholders (and beyond) to enhance their collective learning and expertise in three key specific domains:

  • i) Land Degradation Neutrality Assessments and Decision Making (CoP1),
  • ii) Good Sustainable Land Management Practices (CoP2), and
  • iii) Gender Responsiveness and Advocacy (WeCan).
CoP_diagram_2
Community of Practice 1 – Land Degradation Neutrality Assessment for Informed Decision Making
CoP1 focuses particularly on evidence based good practices related and tailored to the assessment and monitoring of the progress towards land degradation neutrality in DSL-IP project landscapes, as well as the preparation of integrated land use plans (ILUPs) that incorporate the LDN conceptual framework. 
It creates a space for the community to exchange knowledge, experiences, tools, and methodologies that ensure land management decisions are guided by evidence-based information. Discussion within this CoP focuses on how to assess land degradation and progress towards neutrality in a meaningful way, and at different levels. It also looks into how assessments can be integrated to ensure convergence of evidence, which tools and datasets are relevant for each context, and how to use data and information in integrated land use planning processes.
Community of Practice 1
Credits: FAO Namibia
Community of Practice 2 – Good Sustainable Landscape Management and Sustainable Forest Management Practices

CoP2 focuses on good SLM/SFM practices that can address common management challenges in Dryland landscapes. It is focused on the identified core themes in each DSL-IP country project, seeking to enhance their capacity to achieve impact at scale, and accrue knowledge that is also relevant for other countries facing similar challenges.

In addition to spaces for knowledge sharing and exchange, CoP2 also dives deep into the documentation of good SLM/SFM practices within the DSL-IP program. Different methodologies for documentation are encouraged depending on country needs, however, two key ones are integrated in the DSL-IP support structure:

  • i) Practice documentation using the Database on Sustainable Land Management (SLM) of WOCAT (the World Overview of Conservation Approaches and Technologies).
  • ii) Process documentation using the Making Every Voice Count for Adaptive Management (MEV-CAM) approach.
Community of Practice 3 – WeCan, Gender Responsiveness and Women Empowerment.
WeCaN is a community of practice for women’s empowerment in dryland regions. In the DSL-IP, WeCan represents a space where project stakeholders collect and upscale successful experiences, opportunities, and challenges, and bridge the intersection of gender considerations with sustainable landscape management at local, national, and global levels.
Besides the DSL-IP engagement in the WeCan community of practice, the Global Coordination also implements a component on gender led by IUCN. In this workstream, country teams are supported on how to address gender in a holistic and cross sectoral manner. Specific objectives include:
  • i) Identify challenges and opportunities for gender-responsive and transformative action across the DSL-IP in alignment with identified DSL-IP core themes, and including specific leveraging needs by the child projects.
  • ii) Provide a long-term support in better understanding and upscaling the concepts of gender equality, social inclusion in dryland management, addressing the core themes.
  • iii) Formulate recommendations for national gender action plan and strategy that is systematically part of policies and programmes that address dryland management.