Desire for Greener Land

Rangel R and reesting
Tunisia
- G'del (Arabic)
This
techniquee
is based on the principle of leaving thhe
rangeland protected p (by
ex xcluding grazzing
during 2-33
years) to allo ow the plant ccover
to recov ver.
To
tackle degraadation
and thee
negative effe ects of droughtt
on rangeland ds, leaving the
ra angeland proteected
for rehabbilitation
is one e of the commmon
practices used u for many
de ecades by loccal
people in aarid
areas of Tunisia. This technique is based on the
pr rinciple of not aallowing
grazinng
for a period and thus restinng
the rangela and so that the
pl lant cover cann
recover. Thee
grazing-free period lasts coommonly
from 2 to 3 years
de epending on the ecosysteem
resilience (its capacity to recover) and climatic
co onditions. Owwing
to the high cost of fencing, an agreement between the
ad dministration aand
users is acchieved
regard ding the bounddaries
(generally
making use
of f natural ones such as a moountain
chain, wadi, w etc.). Ussers
are totally y committed to
re espect the prootection
of the site during th he fixed periodd.
In return, th hey receive a
su ubsidy to comppensate
for thee
loss of produc ction during thiis
period. It is estimated e at a
qu uantity of barleey
equivalent too
70 US $ per hectare h per yeaar.
Above left: TThe
rangelands s need only to be
protected fromm
grazing to produce
an imprroved
plant cover. ( (Photo: Ouled Belgacem B A.)
Above right: : Without protection
from grazzing
the land is ovvergrazed
and vegetation covver
is
heavily reducced
(Photo: Ouled
Belgacem A.)
Applied A in seveeral
types of iimproved
land d managementts
(rangeland improvement,
du unes stabilizattion,
national pparks,
etc.), this s technique givves
good results
in terms of Location: Me
re egeneration of f vegetation in arid and eve en desert areaas
of Tunisia. However, the Region: Bén
ef ffectiveness off
this techniquee
varies accord ding to several factors which determine the Technology
po otential for reegeneration
of
the treated area (rainfalll,
soil proper rties, level of Conservatio
de egradation reaached,
etc.).
Stage of inte
land degrada
The
resting perriod
is recommmended
even in n heavily overg rgrazed sites, but b only if the Origin: land
ve egetation still hhas
its resiliencce
capacity (ind dicated by the presence of so ome remnants Land use: gr
of f key and goood
range speccies)
so that regeneration r
iss
possible. To o have a fast, Climate: arid
su ubstantial andd
convincing impact, this technique should
be appl lied in those WOCAT data
ra angelands thatt
still contain reelics
of good pastoral p speciees
and where soil s is more or cdewocat.uni
le ess covered byy
sediments whhich
allow good d infiltration. Thhese
wind depo osits are used DESIRE site
as s seed bed andd
act as mulch.
In situations of o extreme deggradation,
there e is no point in his.eu/en/zeu
ap pplying this tecchnique,
since in these situat tions the soil seeed
stocks are e often lacking Related appr
an nd/or the soil hhas
reached a vvery
degraded and shallow sttate.
management
Compiled by
des Régions
Date: 3 rd edenine
ni Khédache - El E Athmane
area: 1 - 10 km m
on measure: m
ervention: miti
ation
users - traditio
razing land
d, subtropics
abase referen
ibe.ch/wocatQT
information:
uss-koutine-tun
roach: Dryland
t approach (QA
y: Azaiez Oule
Arides (IRA), T
Oct t 2008 updated
2
management
igation / reduct
nal (> 50 years
ce: QT TUN11
T
www.desirenisia
d watershed
A TUN09)
d Belgacem, In
Tunisia
d, 23 rd tion of
s ago)
1 on
nstitut
Jun 20111
SLM Technology: Rangeland resting, Tunisia DESIRE – WOCAT 2012
169