The Role of Sustainable Land Management for Climate ... - CAADP

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or in some cases, can make the problems worse. Top-down promotion of “one-size-fits-all”
approaches to land management or climate mitigation activities in contexts where these are not
suited, can result in increased land degradation and opposition by local people. An example of
this problem occurred in the Ethiopian highlands during the former Marxist Derg regime, when
farmers were forced to construct terraces, even though this reduced crop production in some
places because of loss of land on steep slopes, increased waterlogging, pests, and other problems.
Because of these problems, farmers sometimes did not adequately maintain the terraces,
contributing to problems of gully formation.
It is important that efforts to promote SLM for climate mitigation and adaptation be
adequately informed about the potential and actual impacts of interventions in different contexts.
Applied research, technology development and knowledge generation and dissemination about
“what works where when and why” in land management can help ensure that these efforts are as
effective and pro-poor in their impacts as possible. This research and knowledge dissemination
can and should draw upon a considerable base of indigenous knowledge on these issues, as well
as upon scientific research and rigorous evaluations of program interventions.
4.3.5. Improve coordination of efforts to address climate and land degradation, and
integration with key government strategies and processes
Substantial efforts are taking place to coordinate programs addressing climate change within the
context of the UNFCCC, while programs to address land degradation in Africa are being
coordinated by the UNCCD, NEPAD and TerrAfrica. However, coordination between these
focal areas can still be improved, although significant steps have begun in this direction. The
processes of developing and implementing strategies and plans related to these areas are largely
separate. For example, it is not clear how and to what extent many of the NAPAs developed
under the UNFCCC build upon or are linked to the NAPs developed under the UNCCD.
Involvement of key stakeholders from the SLM community in the current UNFCCC processes is
very useful in addressing this need. It would also be useful to increase the involvement of
stakeholders from the climate change community in the processes to develop SLM strategies and
plans, such as the development of CSIFs.
Even more important is effective integration of strategies and plans related to both
climate change and SLM with the overarching strategies and policy processes in African
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