ETFRN NEWS Issue No. 60, December 2020 ETFRN NEWS NO. 60 Restoring African Drylands RESTORING AFRICAN DRYLANDS This edition of ETFRN News has been produced on behalf of the European Tropical Forest Research Network by Tropenbos International. We thank the authors for their contributions, and the editorial board including Salima Mahamoudou (World Resources Institute), Habtemariam Kassa (CIFOR), Robert Winterbottom (Global EverGreening Alliance), and John Livingstone (PENHA). Special thanks also to Gray Tappan (USGS) for additional photographs. This publication was produced with financial assistance from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Government of the Netherlands. The articles and interviews presented in this edition were written between June and November 2020. The views expressed herein are the sole responsibility of the authors and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of ETFRN, Tropenbos International, the Government of the Netherlands or contributing organizations. Published by: Tropenbos International, Wageningen, the Netherlands Copyright: © 2020 ETFRN and Tropenbos International, Wageningen, the Netherlands Text may be reproduced for non-commercial purposes, citing the source Citation: Pasiecznik, N. and C. Reij (eds.). 2020. Restoring African Drylands. Tropenbos International, Wageningen, the Netherlands. vi + 266 pp Editors: Nick Pasiecznik and Chris Reij Copy editing: Patricia Halladay Graphic Design Layout: Juanita Franco (Tropenbos International) ISBN: 978-90-5113-146-8 ISSN: 1876-5866 Cover photo: Women involved in dryland restoration, constructing bench terraces in Gergera watershed, Tigray, Ethiopia. Photo: ICRAF/Niguse Hagazi Available from: ETFRN c/o Tropenbos International P.O. Box 232, 6700 AE Wageningen, the Netherlands Tel: +31 317 702 020 e-mail: [email protected] www.etfrn.org Restoring African Drylands ETFRN NEWS Issue No. 60, December 2020 Contents Preface iv Dryland restoration successes in the Sahel and Greater Horn of Africa show how to increase scale and impact 1 Chris Reij, Nick Pasiecznik, Salima Mahamoudou, Habtemariam Kassa, Robert Winterbottom & John Livingstone Section 1 Farmer and community-managed restoration 1.1 Restoration of agricultural landscapes and dry forests in Senegal 27 Gray Tappan, Mike McGahuey & Robert Winterbottom 1.2 Post-project impacts of restoring degraded land in Tahoua, Niger 35 Abdou Hassane & Chris Reij 1.3 Successful landscape restoration in Abreha We Atsbeha watershed, Tigray, Ethiopia 43 Mitiku Haile & Dawit Gebregziabher 1.4 History and impacts of dryland restoration in Yatenga, Burkina Faso 51 Adama Belemviré, Mathieu Ouedraogo, Chris Reij & Gray Tappan 1.5 Two decades of farmer managed natural regeneration on the Seno plain, Mali 59 Mary Allen, Mamadou Diakhite & Drissa Gana In brief (i): Farmers working together to restore their degraded land and diversify production 67 Beverly Mugure Gichiri 1.6 Adoption of farmer managed natural regeneration in Senegal 69 Robert Winterbottom, Mike McGahuey & Gray Tappan 1.7 Farmers’ strategies for adapting to climate change in Niger 77 Soulé Moussa & Abasse Tougiani 1.8 The climate-smart village approach: communities at the heart of restoration in Senegal 85 Diaminatou Sanogo, Moussa Sall, Baba Ansoumana Camara, Mouhamadou Diop, Marcel Badji & Halimatou Sadyane Ba 1.9 Large-scale regreening in Niger: lessons for policy and practice 93 Adam Toudou, Abasse Tougiani & Chris Reij Section 2 Private sector and project initiatives 2.1 Using market incentives to drive regreening: the case of Sahara Sahel Foods in Niger 103 Josef Garvi & Renate D. Garvi-Bode 2.2 Financial incentives promoting afforestation in Uganda’s drylands 111 Zainabu Kakungulu & Leonidas Hitimana In brief (ii): Seedballs: an innovative way to restore drylands 119 Teddy Kinyanjui 2.3 Forest and farm producer organizations in Ghana’s drylands: key partners in restoration 121 Elvis Kuudaar, Sophie Grouwels, Pauline Buffle & Saadia Bobtoya In brief (iii): Sustainable charcoal value chains support dryland restoration in Ghana 129 Mercy Owusu, Daniel Abu & Joseph Asante 2.4 Land restoration requires a shift from quantity to quality: lessons from Tigray, Ethiopia 131 Niguse Hagazi, Aster Gebrekirstos, Emiru Birhane, Frans Bongers, Rob Kelly & Achim Bräuning In brief (iv): Multipurpose benefits of Acacia saligna in the drylands of northern Ethiopia 139 Emiru Birhane, Abrha Brhan, Niguse Hagazi, Kinfe Mezgebe, Girmay Darcha, Peter Cunningham, Rob Kelly, Frans Bongers & Adugna Gessesse 2.5 Restoring the gum arabic belt in Sudan with local communities 141 Elsayda Mohamed Elhassan Elfadul, Tarig Elsheikh Mahmoud, Hassan Mofadel, Erkan Ozcelik, Simon Rietbergen, Faiza Siddig & Brent Simpson 2.6 Restoring grasslands in Kenya’s Rift Valley 149 Elizabeth Meyerhoff, Peter de Groot & Billy Jones In brief (v): Linking restoration and sustainable wood fuel initiatives in Sahelian Cameroon 157 Denis Jean Sonwa, Abdon Awono, Lydie Flora Essamba à Rim & Pamela Tabi Section 3 Cross-cutting issues 3.1 Local land-use plans, bylaws and conventions reduce resource-based conflicts 161 Brook Johnson & Douglas Steinberg 3.2 Scalable and equitable governance in farmer managed natural regeneration 169 Matt Kandel, Chanimbe Benamba, Rahinatu S. Alare, Genevieve Agaba & Kate Schreckenberg In brief (vi): Understanding the dimensions and context of participation in restoration 177 Aster Gebrekirstos, Niguse Hagazi, Emiru Birhane & Meine van Noordwijk 3.3 Enhancing women’s rights and lives through gender-equitable restoration 179 Safiétou Tiendrébéogo, Adidjata Ouedraogo, Ramané Kabore, Sita Zougouri, Marlène Elias, Alain Touta Traore, Barbara Vinceti, Daouda Traore & Emma Lucie Yago-Ouattara In brief (vii): Connecting youth and trees through experience, education and ownership 187 Peter Borchardt, Mitiku Ketema, Kifle Worku, Shibru Siku, Deresse Kochena & Maximilian Schmid 3.4 Advances in managing and utilizing exotic tree invasions in the Greater Horn of Africa 189 Nick Pasiecznik, Amsale Shibeshi, John Livingstone & Simon Choge In brief (viii): Managing native ‘bush encroachment’ in East African rangelands 199 Staline Kibet, Simon Choge, Ross Shackleton & Urs Schaffner 3.5 Agroforestry: sustainably increasing soil productivity in the West African Sahel 201 Mike McGahuey 3.6 More trees for more water in drylands: myths and opportunities 209 Douglas Sheil & Aida Bargués Tobella Section 4 International actions and intentions 4.1 Regreening Africa: a bottom-up transformation of degraded lands 219 Grace Koech, Leigh Ann Winowiecki, Olaf Westermann, Mieke Bourne, Davis Wamawungo, Sammy Carsan, Tor-Gunnar Vågen, Stephanie Ojee & Susan Chomba 4.2 Landscape restoration is more than land restoration: the Dryland Development Programme 227 Phosiso Sola, Judith Oduol, Niguse Hagazi, Sammy Carsan, Rob Kelly, Jonathan Muriuki, Kiros Hadgu & Maimbo Malesu “Build on the rich experiences of truly successful grassroots restoration” 235 Interview with Dennis Garrity “Forest landscape restoration is not just about planting trees” 239 Interview with Mamadou Moussa Diakhité “Policy makers are key actors, especially at the regional and continental level” 243 Interview with Elvis Paul Tangem “We need to work better together and unite our restoration efforts” 247 Interview with Nora Berrahmouni 4.3 Improving the monitoring of forest and landscape restoration in Africa 251 Salima Mahamoudou & Bernadette Arakwiye Preface At the beginning of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, and reflecting the increasing focus on drylands, the topic of this 60th edition of ETFRN News is very timely. Drylands cover some 40% of the world’s land area and contain some of the most severely degraded landscapes on Earth. They are also home to a third of the world’s population including a disproportionate number of the poorest people, along with unique ecosystems and biodiversity. And these issues are more acute in Africa than in any other continent. This compilation of knowledge on dryland restoration focuses on the Sahel and the Greater Horn of Africa where levels of poverty, land degradation and out-migration are acute. It collates 36 contri- butions, including interviews from distinguished experts, and many examples of success and hope. These include long-term analyses of remarkable increases in tree cover and improved agricultural yields over large areas of Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and Senegal that have never before been pub- lished, examples of landscape restoration in Ethiopia, and related experiences from Cameroon, Djibouti, Ghana, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda. This work provides new insights into what has led to the clear successes in these regions, summarizes the 'top ten' key findings, and recommends pointers to progress. Large-scale projects have played a role, private sector investments are limited but expanding, but the overriding story is that farmer and community-led initiatives are the main driver of dryland restoration at scale, and at low cost. Simple water harvesting techniques and natural regeneration, combined with locally-managed control over resources have been rapidly adapted and adopted. Key factors to this include bylaws made with and enforced by local institutions and communities, the inclusion of women and youth, and effective national and international policy support. If the global community are to meet the ambitious commitments by African countries to Land Degradation Neutrality targets, the Bonn Challenge, the African Forest Landscape Initiative and the Great Green Wall amongst others, there