ICRISAT Archival Report 2006 - The seedlings of success in the ...

In all the four countries in WCA, efforts were made by DMP partners to document exiting policies, through
literature review and secondary data collection. In general, policy guidelines follow the general framework of the
decentralization process that is being implemented in the four countries. More authority is being given to local and
communal structures in managing natural resources.
DMP Namibia contributed to a study to assess to what extent the current policy, legislative and planning framework
is conducive to the implementation of better land management, particularly biodiversity conservation and combating
of desertification. Since the 1996 policy analysis, there have been many positive changes to the policy environment.
Several environmental policies that reflect global thinking regarding sustainable natural resource management and
utilization (guided largely by the principles enshrined within the UNCCD, UNCBD and other agreements), have
been formulated. Favorable sustainable development statements now appear in many other sectoral policies. The
Namibian DMP team contributes continuously to these developments. A comprehensive analysis of policies
concerned with environmental issues has been summarized in CD-Rom format in South Africa. This will be updated
again during 2005.
The DMP coordinator in ESA initiated a series of studies with country partners, illustrating the impact of different
environmental and agricultural policies at various cross border locations in the ESA region using remote sensing
techniques. This work will continue and also be incorporated in country level policy debate. With partners in West
Africa this work may be extended to include similar analysis there.
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