Desire for Greener Land

Training, information and awareness
raising
Cape Verde – Formação, Informação e Sensibilização (Portuguese)
Integration of stakeholders in the implementation of natural resource
conservation activities.
Aim / objectives: Immediately after independence, the Cape Verde government
initiated in collaboration with its international partners an unprecedented campaign of
afforestation. Its main goal consists of fighting desertification and the drought impacts
that previously produced thousands of victims and forced migration of the Cape Verde
population.
Methods: Among the specific objectives are: 1) reduction of soil erosion; 2) firewood
production improvement for rural families; 3) better land production; and 4) land user
vulnerability mitigation.
Stages of implementation: To achieve this objective, the Cape Verde government was
in need of labour provided by the population, which was easily accepted. With the
financial and technical support of the government, municipalities, international projects
of rural development (FAO, GTZ, etc.), NGOs (Platforms of Local and National
Associations,), the technical assistance of the Rural Development Ministry (MDR) and
the help of the local population, nowadays, more than 20% of the surface area of the
archipelago is planted with trees. Several steps have been reached: firstly the
population has been prepared (information, awareness raising and training), then
reconnaissance, topographical surveys and treatments of watershed were carried out
where plantations were established. It was also necessary to import seeds from many
countries, to create nurseries, to treat seeds and to train Cape Verde technicians.
Role of stakeholders: The role of the population was to participate in field work, to
work in collaboration with the MDR technicians, to operate the nursery and finally to
transport the seedlings to the field and plant them. All these steps were achieved with
the technical support of the MDR and some fund providers.
The village suffers from substantial soil erosion, amounting to 6-10,000 tons per
square km per year before the afforestation campaigns. The slopes are very steep
(around 20-35 degrees). The main income of local farmers is from orchards.
SLM Approach: Training, information and awareness raising, Cape Verde DESIRE – WOCAT 2012
Above left: One of the key steps in the
participatory approach is good socialization so
that all stakeholders (with 15 partner groups)
are well informed of the various stages of
project (Photo: Jacques Tavares)
Above right: Photograph taken during a field
trip to exchange ideas, experiences and
viewpoints in the field (basin of Longueira) to
understand better the problems of desertification
(aridity) and land degradation (caused by runoff)
(Photo: Jacques Tavares)
Location: Watershed of Ribeira Seca, Island of
Santiago, Cape Verde
Approach area: 71.5 km 2
Type of Approach: project/ programme based
Focus: on conservation only
WOCAT database reference: QA CPV001e on
cdewocat.unibe.ch/wocatQA
DESIRE site information: www.desirehis.eu/en/ribeira-seca-cape-verde
Related technology(ies): Fruit tree
afforestation (QT CPV03), Aloe vera live barriers
(QT CPV06). Dams, Wall of stones, Contour
furrows. etc.
Compiled by: Jacques Tavares, INIDA, Cape
Verde
Date: 10 Oct 2011
201