The Regional Network was established with the objective of identifying practices in land a management and tenure governance and document them in each countries. Focal persons nominated to take responsibilities for coordinating documentation and evaluation of land and water management practices in the Near East countries. This work is further aimed at establishing region-wide, sub regional and country land based data that will help countries to develop effective strategies and policies needed for scaling up sustainable land and water management practices in the region.

Objectives

• Training conducted for at least 1 person per country on the QA, QT and QM tools of WOCAT including practical field application of the questionnaires and surveys on socio-economic and biophysical information needed for the documentation and evaluation of land and water management practices including tenure governance

• Trainees have acquired the basic skills and can demonstrate that they are competent to use the
tools for assessing land degradation and evaluating SLM practices

• Establish regional, sub regional and country data base on land use, degradation and best practices
for land and water management and land tenure

• Strengthen and ensure the functioning of the Regional platform and SLM knowledge management
network (RNECAT) established during the Lebanon workshop and .

• Use of the LADA tool to obtain information on status and trends (spatial and temporal) of land
degradation in the regions, sub regions and at country level

• Evaluation of technologies and approaches used for land and management in terms of impacts and suitability for scaling up

Outputs and expected outcomes

Technical officers are trained from partner and stakeholder institutions in each country of the region,who will train other technical officers in the respective countries and document technologies and approaches at least one per country in 2013, and progressively increase the number of technologies and approaches to be documented every year for three consecutive years Establish region-wide, sub-regional and country database on land use systems, extent and severity of land degradation, best practices in land and water managementProduce information sheet, articles, and booklets on good SLM practices to be shared among broad categories of users which among others include land management practitioners, investors, policy makers, researchers and etc.
These products are used for planning sustainable land management practices, responsible tenure governance systems, and develop sound policies and strategies that would enable countries improve food security and adopt strategies for adapting and mitigating climate change .