Final Report Summary - UNDESERT (Understanding and combating desertification to mitigate its impact on ecosystem services)
Executive Summary:
Desertification and land degradation are natural and non-natural phenomena concerning mainly arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas. Degradation processes are driven by climatic variations and various human activities resulting in the degradation of soil and vegetation of billions of hectares of range- and cropland. UNDESERT aims at getting a good understanding of desertification and degradation processes thereby aiming at protecting and, where possible, rehabilitating land and water resources. By integrating regional information with sound field data on biodiversity and soil as well as socioeconomic and climate data, we aim to create improved understanding of the effects of desertification and degradation processes in West Africa on a local and regional scale. On this basis results have been presented to natural resource managers, politicians and organisations and decision support models and tools have been developed. UNDESERT also includes two very practical aspects, 1) restoration through tree planting, which is certified for CO2 marketing as the first restoration site in West Africa and 2) management together with local communities. UNDESERT activities were implemented by employing 17 PhD students, who received training to enhance future capacities to manage risks and uncertainties in the frame of future demographic and climatic changes. The scientific results have been and will hopefully be used further to combat desertification and degradation directly in the field and in national and international programmes in order to contribute to the implementation of relevant international strategies. Project website address: www.undesert.neri.dk.
Project Context and Objectives:
WP 1. Risk assessments were conducted in 6 different case studies on national and local scale to investigate the influence of land use and climate change on plant species distribution and diversity patterns. Advanced species distribution models were applied to estimate the magnitude and probability of risks of changes in plant species distributions and diversity. Our results reveal that both land use and climate pose high risks for plant species distribution and diversity patterns, climate change being more significant. For the land use impact it showed that trees are more strongly affected than shrubs; forest, woodland and tree savanna are likely to change into degraded savanna and farmland. Moreover, future climate and land use changes are a serious risk for the diversity patterns of food species.
WP2. For many species quantitative data on their socio-economic values, use purposes and importance for planting activities were documented. Species inventories and interviews revealed pronounced vegetation changes and decreasing species abundances, particularly for the most highly valued food and fodder species. Thus, pronounced socio-economic consequences are found in all study areas. Results show that poorer income groups are more dependent on the valued species products and will be hit hardest by their decrease. In regard to options of local communities to deal with changing species availabilities it shows that people might counteract shortages to a certain extent by using substitutes or planting local species.
WP3. Studies on the impact of restoration techniques on physico-chemical characteristics of the soil were performed in several sites in West Africa. A selection of local species typical of the sahelo-sudanian savanna environments has been planted in restoration sites using different techniques (banquettes, trenches, stone rows). The different techniques have been compared for their effect on soil parameters and plant growth. In the Sahel, trees significantly improved soil fertility parameters such as carbon, nitrogen and pH. Furthermore, the size distribution of water stable aggregates and their carbon content was measured in order to be fed into the CAST model (developed by the EU-financed SoilTrEC project).
WP4. T By building an online data platform, WP4 integrated data from the scientific WPs, from different sites and made them available for use in the applied WPs. The data platform consists of three modules, the West African Data and Metadata Repository, the West African Vegetation Database and West African Plants – a Photo Guide. WP4 provided the online database structures, provided manuals for their use and assisted in the integration of content and analysed data from the platform to identify suitable degradation parameters.
WP5. The main objective of WP5 is to take practical action in order to respond to desertification and land degradation. This has been done via an identification of well performing native species and restoration techniques and establishment of tree plantations including a carbon credit certification on one site in Senegal. Manuals of 26 useful species and well performing planting methods were produced. Finally, carbon sequestration modeling for improved carbon estimations was developed. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0gpzL61ZBc.
WP6. Simulation models from the sudanian savanna and sahelian grassland were parameterized and validated with data from literature and UNDESERT, taking into account the impact of plant use and species competition. The system has been designed having different questions or question series that may be asked be people dealing with ecosystem management in mind. By helping answering these questions it is believed that the UNDESERT DSS will be a strong tool in the hands of ecosystem managers or people involved in development projects in West Africa. The DSS is available from the UNDESERT homepage.
WP7. The overall objective of WP7 is to develop better communication of technical and innovative ideas, better access to materials and technical assistance through development of capacity building workshops, suitable manuals and guidelines and recommendations based on modelling and decision support tools for strategy planning at international, regional and local level. The the results have been disseminated at five levels: 1) International organizations and conventions in which the partners of the project have produced policy recommendations. 2) Natural resource managers and politicians. 3) Local communities with whom UNDESERT partners have collaborated closely. 4) Scientific community. 5) A project homepage, www.undesert.neri.dk.
Project Results:
The descrption of the main S&T results/foregrounds is attached as PDF file.
Potential Impact:
Potential impact:
UNDESERT aims at combating desertification and land degradation in order to mitigate their impacts on ecosystem services and, consequently, on human livelihoods. This can set in motion a positive cycle that can make important contributions to alleviate poverty and generate benefits at the community level by this contributing substantially to achieving the Millennium Development Goals. UNDESERT had focus on applied research and the application of the research results. Afforestation measures were part of UNDESERT as well as good management practices for sustainable use of goods and services from forest ecosystems. The development of agroforestry systems through tree planting and carbon sale contribute directly to poverty reduction, making the rural poor less vulnerable to the impacts of land degradation. These measures also contribute to mitigate climate change through increased carbon sequestration. The enhanced scientific understanding of degradation processes and identification of reliable indicators support policy makers and development of concrete management interventions for mitigating desertification. One of the salient features of the UNCCD is the participatory approach to policy development and implementation. UNDESERT has a strong capacity building component in villages and at universities in order to promote empowerment of communities, at the local level, working with local land managers, farmers and herders. In this regard, strengthening of capacity building is crucial, as expressed in UNCCD, including a special focus on capacity building needs to ensure the successful implementation of the convention. To overcome desertification processes, a common effort through an interdisciplinary and fully participatory approach is needed. UNDESERT worked on four components to understand and reduce desertification: 1. Improved understanding of the processes of desertification and degradation by an integrative and interdisciplinary approach, where remote sensing information on different scales is combined with vegetation-, soil- and socio-economic results and where new modelling techniques are applied. 2. Assessment of impact of desertification and degradation through close collaboration of scientists and stakeholders to ensure successful implementation of sustainable management practices. 3. Development of decision support models/tools and best practices for policy and decision makers on different levels considering early warning indicators of degradation. 4. Concrete responses against desertification and degradation based on scientific results, comprising ecosystem restoration through tree plantations for carbon sequestration, which contribute to sustainable livelihood systems by considering economic interests and creating new income options.
Consideration of gender aspects:
Gender issues are relevant in two respects concerning the UNDESERT project; the focus on the integration of female scientists and female stakeholders.
The field of natural sciences is dominated by male researchers in both Europe and Africa, which merits a focus on gender aspects in UNDESERT. In the research group, however, the main project coordination (WP8) and two workpackages (WP1 and WP2) are led by female scientists.
Gender aspects in future research:
The project attempts to reinforce and increase the role of women by inclusion of female PhD students at each of the African partner institutions. The project will (referring to the EU policy on gender issues) seek to identify and inform qualified female candidates for one third to half of the PhD positions, as this is a practice that has been used in earlier projects with success. This will mean an addition of 5-7 female PhD students within the project, which is a significant number compared to the limited number of female scientists in the natural sciences in West Africa at present and it will, therefore, improve the gender balance in the future.
It has proved to be very difficult to find qualified female candidates in some of the African countries because there is a low percentage of women with a master’s degree in natural sciences and there are many projects that want to employ women. In UNDESERT, we aimed at having at least one female PhD student at each partner institution, but this has not been possible at three institutions (P6, P7, P8) despite big efforts to look for qualified candidates. For the moment, UNDESERT has 5 female PhD students (a 6th female student started, but could not continue).
Female stakeholders in the project:
Women are often the main users of natural resources, mainly for preparation of meals and for income generation. The project therefore, directly targets women by promoting an improved management of natural resources, particularly valuable species, and by focusing on women in the establishment of CO2 certification in restoration projects (WP5) and in ecosystem management (WP6). The ethnoecological studies (WP2) were structured to include an equal number of female and male informants in order to assure incorporation of both. The dissemination of results (WP7) to local people will pay particular attention to female groups. Under WP5, there has been a strong focus on female stakeholders who will benefit from at least 50% of the carbon income. The project has ensured women’s groups rights to land, which they did not have before.
List of Websites:
www.undesert.neri.dk
Anne Mette Lykke
Coordinator of UNDESERT
Aarhus University
Vejlsoevej 25
8600 Silkeborg
Denmark
Tel.: +45 89201765+45 89201765
Email: aml@dmu.dk
Desertification and land degradation are natural and non-natural phenomena concerning mainly arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas. Degradation processes are driven by climatic variations and various human activities resulting in the degradation of soil and vegetation of billions of hectares of range- and cropland. UNDESERT aims at getting a good understanding of desertification and degradation processes thereby aiming at protecting and, where possible, rehabilitating land and water resources. By integrating regional information with sound field data on biodiversity and soil as well as socioeconomic and climate data, we aim to create improved understanding of the effects of desertification and degradation processes in West Africa on a local and regional scale. On this basis results have been presented to natural resource managers, politicians and organisations and decision support models and tools have been developed. UNDESERT also includes two very practical aspects, 1) restoration through tree planting, which is certified for CO2 marketing as the first restoration site in West Africa and 2) management together with local communities. UNDESERT activities were implemented by employing 17 PhD students, who received training to enhance future capacities to manage risks and uncertainties in the frame of future demographic and climatic changes. The scientific results have been and will hopefully be used further to combat desertification and degradation directly in the field and in national and international programmes in order to contribute to the implementation of relevant international strategies. Project website address: www.undesert.neri.dk.
Project Context and Objectives:
WP 1. Risk assessments were conducted in 6 different case studies on national and local scale to investigate the influence of land use and climate change on plant species distribution and diversity patterns. Advanced species distribution models were applied to estimate the magnitude and probability of risks of changes in plant species distributions and diversity. Our results reveal that both land use and climate pose high risks for plant species distribution and diversity patterns, climate change being more significant. For the land use impact it showed that trees are more strongly affected than shrubs; forest, woodland and tree savanna are likely to change into degraded savanna and farmland. Moreover, future climate and land use changes are a serious risk for the diversity patterns of food species.
WP2. For many species quantitative data on their socio-economic values, use purposes and importance for planting activities were documented. Species inventories and interviews revealed pronounced vegetation changes and decreasing species abundances, particularly for the most highly valued food and fodder species. Thus, pronounced socio-economic consequences are found in all study areas. Results show that poorer income groups are more dependent on the valued species products and will be hit hardest by their decrease. In regard to options of local communities to deal with changing species availabilities it shows that people might counteract shortages to a certain extent by using substitutes or planting local species.
WP3. Studies on the impact of restoration techniques on physico-chemical characteristics of the soil were performed in several sites in West Africa. A selection of local species typical of the sahelo-sudanian savanna environments has been planted in restoration sites using different techniques (banquettes, trenches, stone rows). The different techniques have been compared for their effect on soil parameters and plant growth. In the Sahel, trees significantly improved soil fertility parameters such as carbon, nitrogen and pH. Furthermore, the size distribution of water stable aggregates and their carbon content was measured in order to be fed into the CAST model (developed by the EU-financed SoilTrEC project).
WP4. T By building an online data platform, WP4 integrated data from the scientific WPs, from different sites and made them available for use in the applied WPs. The data platform consists of three modules, the West African Data and Metadata Repository, the West African Vegetation Database and West African Plants – a Photo Guide. WP4 provided the online database structures, provided manuals for their use and assisted in the integration of content and analysed data from the platform to identify suitable degradation parameters.
WP5. The main objective of WP5 is to take practical action in order to respond to desertification and land degradation. This has been done via an identification of well performing native species and restoration techniques and establishment of tree plantations including a carbon credit certification on one site in Senegal. Manuals of 26 useful species and well performing planting methods were produced. Finally, carbon sequestration modeling for improved carbon estimations was developed. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0gpzL61ZBc.
WP6. Simulation models from the sudanian savanna and sahelian grassland were parameterized and validated with data from literature and UNDESERT, taking into account the impact of plant use and species competition. The system has been designed having different questions or question series that may be asked be people dealing with ecosystem management in mind. By helping answering these questions it is believed that the UNDESERT DSS will be a strong tool in the hands of ecosystem managers or people involved in development projects in West Africa. The DSS is available from the UNDESERT homepage.
WP7. The overall objective of WP7 is to develop better communication of technical and innovative ideas, better access to materials and technical assistance through development of capacity building workshops, suitable manuals and guidelines and recommendations based on modelling and decision support tools for strategy planning at international, regional and local level. The the results have been disseminated at five levels: 1) International organizations and conventions in which the partners of the project have produced policy recommendations. 2) Natural resource managers and politicians. 3) Local communities with whom UNDESERT partners have collaborated closely. 4) Scientific community. 5) A project homepage, www.undesert.neri.dk.
Project Results:
The descrption of the main S&T results/foregrounds is attached as PDF file.
Potential Impact:
Potential impact:
UNDESERT aims at combating desertification and land degradation in order to mitigate their impacts on ecosystem services and, consequently, on human livelihoods. This can set in motion a positive cycle that can make important contributions to alleviate poverty and generate benefits at the community level by this contributing substantially to achieving the Millennium Development Goals. UNDESERT had focus on applied research and the application of the research results. Afforestation measures were part of UNDESERT as well as good management practices for sustainable use of goods and services from forest ecosystems. The development of agroforestry systems through tree planting and carbon sale contribute directly to poverty reduction, making the rural poor less vulnerable to the impacts of land degradation. These measures also contribute to mitigate climate change through increased carbon sequestration. The enhanced scientific understanding of degradation processes and identification of reliable indicators support policy makers and development of concrete management interventions for mitigating desertification. One of the salient features of the UNCCD is the participatory approach to policy development and implementation. UNDESERT has a strong capacity building component in villages and at universities in order to promote empowerment of communities, at the local level, working with local land managers, farmers and herders. In this regard, strengthening of capacity building is crucial, as expressed in UNCCD, including a special focus on capacity building needs to ensure the successful implementation of the convention. To overcome desertification processes, a common effort through an interdisciplinary and fully participatory approach is needed. UNDESERT worked on four components to understand and reduce desertification: 1. Improved understanding of the processes of desertification and degradation by an integrative and interdisciplinary approach, where remote sensing information on different scales is combined with vegetation-, soil- and socio-economic results and where new modelling techniques are applied. 2. Assessment of impact of desertification and degradation through close collaboration of scientists and stakeholders to ensure successful implementation of sustainable management practices. 3. Development of decision support models/tools and best practices for policy and decision makers on different levels considering early warning indicators of degradation. 4. Concrete responses against desertification and degradation based on scientific results, comprising ecosystem restoration through tree plantations for carbon sequestration, which contribute to sustainable livelihood systems by considering economic interests and creating new income options.
Consideration of gender aspects:
Gender issues are relevant in two respects concerning the UNDESERT project; the focus on the integration of female scientists and female stakeholders.
The field of natural sciences is dominated by male researchers in both Europe and Africa, which merits a focus on gender aspects in UNDESERT. In the research group, however, the main project coordination (WP8) and two workpackages (WP1 and WP2) are led by female scientists.
Gender aspects in future research:
The project attempts to reinforce and increase the role of women by inclusion of female PhD students at each of the African partner institutions. The project will (referring to the EU policy on gender issues) seek to identify and inform qualified female candidates for one third to half of the PhD positions, as this is a practice that has been used in earlier projects with success. This will mean an addition of 5-7 female PhD students within the project, which is a significant number compared to the limited number of female scientists in the natural sciences in West Africa at present and it will, therefore, improve the gender balance in the future.
It has proved to be very difficult to find qualified female candidates in some of the African countries because there is a low percentage of women with a master’s degree in natural sciences and there are many projects that want to employ women. In UNDESERT, we aimed at having at least one female PhD student at each partner institution, but this has not been possible at three institutions (P6, P7, P8) despite big efforts to look for qualified candidates. For the moment, UNDESERT has 5 female PhD students (a 6th female student started, but could not continue).
Female stakeholders in the project:
Women are often the main users of natural resources, mainly for preparation of meals and for income generation. The project therefore, directly targets women by promoting an improved management of natural resources, particularly valuable species, and by focusing on women in the establishment of CO2 certification in restoration projects (WP5) and in ecosystem management (WP6). The ethnoecological studies (WP2) were structured to include an equal number of female and male informants in order to assure incorporation of both. The dissemination of results (WP7) to local people will pay particular attention to female groups. Under WP5, there has been a strong focus on female stakeholders who will benefit from at least 50% of the carbon income. The project has ensured women’s groups rights to land, which they did not have before.
List of Websites:
www.undesert.neri.dk
Anne Mette Lykke
Coordinator of UNDESERT
Aarhus University
Vejlsoevej 25
8600 Silkeborg
Denmark
Tel.: +45 89201765+45 89201765
Email: aml@dmu.dk
