The TerrAfrica process is a partnership between FAO, the World Bank, the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) and other implementing agencies. 

FAO supports the use of the TerrAfrica partnership for sharing lessons and developing tools and learning materials for scaling up and mainstreaming sustainable land management (SLM) on the ground in Africa. TerrAfrica aims to scale up SLM based on assessments of land degradation and integrated landscape management and land-use planning approaches, with appropriate, targeted financing and policies and measures for providing incentives. 

Through the TerrAfrica partnership, FAO supports an increasing number of African countries in mainstreaming SLM into development planning and relevant sectoral and investment plans, portfolios and policy frameworks. It fosters and promotes policies to incentivize SLM and increase partnerships and cooperation among countries and with international partners. The “Frameworks of Cooperation” initiative is part of this effort. FAO also provides countries with guidance and advocacy on strengthening existing strategies and facilitating capacity building.

Another aspect of FAO’s support for TerraAfrica is the identification of interlinkages between climate change, biodiversity conservation and sustainable water management using SLM tools that are synergistic and innovative (for example addressing carbon in soils; pastoralism; and biodiversity in drylands).

The TerrAfrica strategic investment programme comprises the Global Environment Facility’s land degradation portfolio in sub-Saharan Africa, which contains 36 projects in 26 countries. FAO successfully implemented the Kagera regional project within this framework.