Soil and water conservation through a climate-smart landscape approach

IFPRI Conference
Building Resilience for Food and Nutrition Security
Addis Ababa, 15 - 17 May 2014
Petra Jacobi, GIZ
Georg Deichert, GIZ
Soil and water conservation through
a climate-smart landscape approach -
Experiences from the Sahel and East Africa

Landscape approach16/05/2014

Territorial development
 Territory: as spatially cohesive area.
 Boundaries can be defined in different ways.
National
Policies
Climate
change
Global
economy
Natural
Resources
Institutio-
nal
Setting
Economic
activities Social
Setting

Territorial development – Landscape approach
Territorial
approaches
Economic
delimitation
- Development
corridors
- Protected
designation
of origin
(champagne)
Administrative
delimitation
Development
of:
- Villages
- Municipalities
- Provinces
Ethical/
cultural
delimitation
- Indigenous
territories
- Tribal
areas
Eco-
geographical
delimitation
- Watershed
- Transfrontier
conservation
areas
- Eco-system
based
adaptation
- Landscape
approaches

Case Study 1:
20 years of watershed management in Niger

Case Study 1:
Niger`s challenges for agricultural development
 Agriculture and pastoralism are key sectors in the rural economy, but
periodic droughts, increasing desertification and environmental
degradation are huge challenges
 80% of the population live in rural areas, combined with high population
growth (more than 3.5%) pressure on natural resources, e.g. land, water
and vegetation is high
 Only 15% of the land is arable, but 53% of the population are engaged in
crop production, mostly subsistence

Case Study 1:
20 years of watershed management in Niger
 Several programmes funded by BMZ,
implemented by GIZ / KfW / Government
since early 1990ies till date.
 Over 400,000 ha treated with Soil and
Water Conservation at a rhythm of 20.000
ha/year.
 More than 200 water-spreading weirs with
> 10.000 ha with flood irrigation (last 13
years)
 700 villages, around 0.5 million people
reached

Work approach Niger
 Programme support only after active request and approval.
 Rolling approach to work with about 100 villages in parallel.
 Population provides: free labour, local materials and maintenance.
 Programme provides: training, basic tools and material, trucks and
tractors.
Year 1: organizing population, training, pilot activities.
Years 2 to 5: Intensive implementation.
Years 5 and 6: Progressive shift of responsibilities to
the communities. End of support autonomy.

Techniques (Niger)
 Water
spreading
weirs
600–1,500 €/ha
 Stonebunds
 Planting pits
30 – 45 €/ha
40-90% contrib.
 Trenches
 Dykes
 Stonebunds
 Nardi trenches
 (Half-moons)
130 €/ha
55 % contribution

Nardi trenches
Water spreading weirs

Niger: Impact so far
Plateaus (Nardi-trenches):
 Yields of herbaceous biomass increases (from ~ 0 to 600/700 kg/ha*yr).
 Slow production of wood (generally around 1 stere/ha*yr).
 Improved biodiversity and protection of lower areas.
Fields (stone bunds):
 Increased / more stable yields (millet > x 2 or around 200 kg/ha*yr more).
 Straw increased by x 1.6 (520 kg/ha*yr more).
Valleys:
 Increase of millet yields x 2 and increase of production x 5.8
 Strong increase in vegetable production, employment and income
 Heightening of groundwater levels

Case Study 2:
Ethiopia`s Challenges for Agricultural Development

Case Study 2:
 Agriculture and pastoralism are key sectors for economic growth and
long-term food security in Ethiopia
 44 % share in GDP (Industry: 13.7%)
 84.4 % share in total exports
 85 % share in employement
 High population growth rate (2.7%) resulting in high population
pressure on natural resources, eg land, water and
vegetation

Case Study 2:
 Loss of natural resources as result of deforestation and
overgrazing
 Expansion of cultivation into un-terraced steep slopes (>30%)
 Soil loss due to rain and wind induced degradation
 Reduction of soil fertility due to inadequate land management
practices
 Low agricultural productivity (50% of Kenia / Morocco)
 Lowland: overgrazing of marginal areas

Case Study 2: Ethiopia`s Responses to the
Challenges
Agricultural
Growth (AGP)
Sustainable Land
Management
(SLMP)
Drought Resilience
Productivity Safety
Net (PSNP)The Ministry of Agriculture
addresses the challenges with
4 topical areas and these
programs have synergies and
complement each other.

Case Study 2:
The SLM Watershed Management Approach
Three phases of the watershed approach
Identifying micro-watersheds,
mobilizing and organizing
communities and planning
Implementating soil and water
conservation measures
Implementating climate
smart income generating
activities (IGA)
1
2
3

Case Study 2:
Identifying micro-watersheds, mobilizing and
organizing communities and planning
 Creating awareness for soil degradation in the
community and the local administration
 Setting up local committees and user groups
 Preparing watershed management plans with strong
community participation
 Get approval and secure funding for plan
implementation
31 2

Case Study 2: The SLM Watershed Management
Approach
Implementating soil and
water conservation measures
 Watershed management starts from top of
watershed
 First priority: reduce energy of run-off water and
increase water infiltration into soil
 Situation specific SWC measures (type of terraces,
type of trenches, gully structures, etc.)
 Combined Physical and bilogical SWC measures,
e.g. forage planting on bunds
 Combination of various SWC measures to improve
water retention, soil fertility and reducing soil
degradation, stocking rate, deforestation
 Utilization of water at foot hill / in valley
1 32

Case Study 2:
Implementating climate smart income
generating activities (IGA)
• Identifying income generating and climate smart crop,
livestock and forest production activities
• Screening and rating of climate smartness with regard
to adaptation, mitigation and income generating
potentials
• Promotion of regular compost making, intercropping,
mulching, etc.
• Integrate forage production with SWC measures
• Improve post-harvest measures and fodder
conservation
31 2

Case Study 2: The SLM Watershed Management
Approach

Case Study 2: SLMP impacts so far
 Around 180,000 ha of degraded land rehabilitated through SLM
measures benefiting around 194,000 households in total.
 Since 2008 the irrigated area increased to 1,800 ha and is
utilized by small farmers for increasing productivity and income
generation.
 Planning and implementation capacities of governmental
structures are improved. So far 678 watershed management
plans were developed and implemented with active community
participation.
 Institutional capacities on commune level and self-responsibility
of the communities are significantly improved. Around 60,000
farmers and producers, who are organized in 500 user groups
manage watersheds with SLM measures.

Landscape approaches and the right mix
of interventions offer multiple benefits:
Conclusions
 powerful concept to improve food security and incomes;
 positive environmental effects i.e. on biodiversity and water cycle;
 Very suitable to mainstream CC adaptation and mitigation;
 large scale impact potential;
 also low-cost technologies are available

Conclusions
Landscape approaches
 improve governance in rural areas by implying all stakeholders and
integrate know-how across sectors;
 .mobilise and strengthen the local population;
 But: sufficient time for implementation is required.

►Please download a full copy of these documents from our web site:
http://star-www.giz.de/starweb/giz/pub/servlet.starweb

Thank you very much !

Soil and water conservation through a climate-smart landscape approach

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Similar to Soil and water conservation through a climate-smart landscape approach

Similar to Soil and water conservation through a climate-smart landscape approach (20)

More from 2020resilience

More from 2020resilience (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Soil and water conservation through a climate-smart landscape approach