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Since the mid-1980s, the positive impacts of these simple, cost-efficient water harvesting techniques become clear, following their increasingly widespread adoption. Their use has allowed smallholders to reverse land degradation, improve soil fertility, sustainably increase crop production, achieve food security, and create more productive, diverse and resilient farming systems. At the same time,…

As a farmer in northern Kenya, I came to understand the importance of dryland restoration. After moving to Kaijaido country in the south, I started an initiative to restore the land, increase food security and reduce poverty, supported by a grant from the East African Community with various activities supported by FAO and Yale University. The local Maasai people are pastoral. They…

The adoption of FMNR increased by 50% over 20 years; about 90% of all farmers now encourage natural regeneration on the land that they manage. The key to success is having local institutions that are respected and effective. The experience in Bankass shows that reforestation rates of at least 250 trees per hectare can be achieved by farmer managed natural regeneration on Sahelian agricultural…

In this Briefing • What is desertification? • Measuring and mapping desertification • Desertification and agriculture: a two-way relationship • Agricultural solutions to land degradation • Desertification and EU agriculture • Is the EU acting on desertification? Evidence of desertification Global estimates of total degraded area vary…

More than two billion hectares of the world’s deforested and degraded landscapes are likely to offer potential for restoration — a vast opportunity to reduce poverty, improve food security, reduce climate change, and conserve biodiversity. Over the last several centuries, vast forest areas have been cleared as agriculture has spread and human populations have grown. About 30…

Yolanda is an Afro-Colombian who has dedicated her life to preserving the culture and environment of the Guapi region of Colombia on the Pacific coast. As an internationally recognized activist and community leader, Yolanda has founded and lead a number of advocacy organizations including Aso Manos Negra, a feminist association that works to promote environmental sustainability and women’s…