Living Land

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] 14

Reversing land degradation in the drylands:

scaling out and monitoring proven

sustainable land management options

Feras Ziadat, Nora Berrahmouni, Uwe Grewer, Sally Bunning and Louis Bockel, Food and Agriculture Organization

of the United Nations, and Theib Oweis, International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas

romising sustainable land management (SLM)

options are available to reverse land degradation.

Yet, land degradation and desertification are threat-

ening people’s livelihoods and food security, particularly

in the dry areas with unfavourable climate variability and

change. We propose a guiding opportunistic approach to

reverse this trend. The approach helps in identifying target

areas where adaptable SLM options have high potential

of success. This is possible when coupled with an imple-

mentation and scaling-out campaign supported by proper

policies and financial mechanisms. It requires continuous

monitoring and evaluation to assess the impact and guide

the fine-tuning based on future fluctuations.

Land degradation is causing serious economic, social

and environmental problems in the arid areas. It directly

affects the livelihoods of the rural population by reducing

the productivity of land resources and adversely affecting

the stability, functions and services derived from natural

systems. Land degradation and desertification are driven by

unfavourable natural factors and are aggravated by misuse

and overexploitation of the natural resource base, particu-

larly through inappropriate and unsustainable agricultural

practices, overgrazing, deforestation and forest degradation.

The types and causes of land degradation and desertifi-

cation vary from one site to another, even within a short

distance. Therefore, to propose workable solutions, the dry

Implementation of SLM in farmers’ fields by the whole community

Image: Ethiopia/ICARDA

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