This document summarizes a presentation given at the UNCCD 2nd Scientific Conference in 2013. The presentation discusses two routes for channeling scientific research on land degradation and sustainable land management into policy: through the UNCCD international policy arena, and through national level policy processes like National Action Plans. It provides examples from Botswana of integrating local knowledge and research into land policy changes. It also outlines lessons learned on community empowerment, stakeholder analysis, and knowledge brokering to facilitate research uptake. Finally, it discusses the objectives and challenges of the CASCADE project in developing an integrated modeling approach and engaging with policymakers.

1. UNCCD 2nd Scientific Conference 2013 - Bonn
Channelling science into policy: Enabling best
practices from research on land degradation &
sustainable land management in drylands
Lindsay Stringer & Andy Dougill,
University of Leeds, UK
a.j.dougill@leeds.ac.uk; @AndyDougill

2. UNCCD 2nd Scientific Conference 2013 - Bonn
From local land users & scientists to the policy
arena: two routes
UNCCD: international
policy arena
NAPs: National
level policy
Local knowledge &
scientific research

3. UNCCD 2nd Scientific Conference 2013 - Bonn
Key steps to policy: route to national policy
• Botswana – ‘lock-in’ to a land policy based on privatisation of grazing
lands despite critiques in terms of degradation & poverty impacts
• Shifted to local-scale participatory research to produce rangeland
management guides linked to new community rangeland management
committees– Reed & Dougill, 2010; J. Arid Env,74, 149-155
• Dynamic systems model to understand pathways of change & to predict
future economic impacts of different land use scenarios – Dougill et al.,
2010; Ecol & Soc 15(2): 17.

4. UNCCD 2nd Scientific Conference 2013 - Bonn
Key steps to policy: route to national policy cont.
• Monitor positive impacts of changing practice at local-scale to develop
‘good news’ examples of change showing empowerment, social &
environmental benefits
• Run workshops with policy-makers & researchers to ‘model’ agro-
ecosystem futures based on climate change trends, land management
& policy changes => stakeholder inclusion to explain models of change
& policy impacts
• Disseminate widely at national & District level to ensure awareness
(incl. of economic impacts) & uptake of project outputs

5. UNCCD 2nd Scientific Conference 2013 - Bonn
Lessons from the Local Level Research
• Community empowerment in monitoring can provide data to inform
future policy development & project design, but remains rare
• Studies need to begin with a thorough stakeholder analysis across
multiple levels (local to international)
• Institutional mapping exercises can identify key communication
channels to inform, adapt & tailor research outputs for user groups
• Changing Govt personnel lead to loss of knowledge brokering capacity
& essential to pro-actively push to mainstream land degradation issues
cross Ministries to enhance chances of research uptake
• Share ‘good news’ lessons cross-borders (e.g. Botswana looking to
learn from Community Conservancy initiatives in Namibia)

6. UNCCD 2nd Scientific Conference 2013 - Bonn
International Land Degradation Policy & Entry Points
for Scientific Research
• Analysed the complex, dynamic process of flows of scientific
knowledge into the UNCCD (Stringer & Dougill, 2013) stressing
importance of joint fora enabling knowledge exchange
• Scientific input to national reports vital to shape COP discussions
• Wider media engagement & pro-active communications have
important role to raise public awareness pushing for action
• Projects to develop targeted policy briefs for key events
Is the UNCCD stuck in a knowledge traffic jam?
Discussion paper for CRIC 7 by DESIRE/Drynet/eniD

7. UNCCD 2nd Scientific Conference 2013 - Bonn
Key Enabling Activities
Stringer & Dougill, 2013: J. Envt Mngmt 114; 328-335

8. UNCCD 2nd Scientific Conference 2013 - Bonn
CASCADE’s Integrated Modelling Objectives
• CASCADE Project objectives include –
– To integrate socio-economic factors into ecological model, undertake
scenario analyses of land management strategies & formulate policy
recommendations for preventative & restorative dryland management
– To make the results accessible to interested persons, particularly using
a web-based information system CASCADiS
• Useful lessons to be gained from analysis of previous studies across
drylands globally (see also Ecol & Soc special feature -
http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/issues/view.php?sf=52 &
outputs from DESIRE project)

9. UNCCD 2nd Scientific Conference 2013 - Bonn
CASCADE’s Integrated Research Plan
• Site-based scientific studies develop land management recommendations
with stakeholders including land users & local policy makers

10. UNCCD 2nd Scientific Conference 2013 - Bonn
CASCADE Challenges
• Need to engage with each sites study teams to ensure land-use
decision-making links from small-scale plot studies
• Must identify local drivers of change in land use & management to
enable scenario development for integrated modelling
• Engagement with policy-makers essential throughout not just for
policy workshops towards end of the project
• Good web portal helps (see - http://www.cascadis-project.eu/), but
needs pro-active efforts to identify knowledge brokers & policy entry
points in each country
• Learn from lessons elsewhere, such as dryland Africa, on scaling up
from local-scale insights to policy recommendations

11. UNCCD 2nd Scientific Conference 2013 - Bonn
Thank you & more info in -