Burundi’s economy is dominated by small-scale agriculture practiced on the slopes of hills and mountains. The burgeoning population and an overwhelming reliance on natural resources by 90 percent of the population have both caused aggravated environmental degradation. The recent World Bank Country Environment Analysis estimates that each year, almost 38 million tons of soil is lost and land degradation cost 4% of the country’s GDP. Soil erosion worsens Burundi’s socioeconomic situation, and particularly affects the poorest.

Sahelian Africa is significantly affected by rainfall variability. Its populations are among the poorest and most threatened by climatic changeability and land degradation, as they depend heavily on healthy ecosystems to sustain their livelihoods. Increasing pressures on food, fodder, and fuelwood have a significant impact on the environment; and frequent droughts and poorly managed land and water resources contribute to expanding soil erosion. The Great Green Wall for the Sahara and the Sahel Initiative emerged in 2007 to address climate change, land degradation, and desertification.

The five Central Asian countries (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan) are among the Europe and Central Asia Region’s most vulnerable to climate change; building resilience is thus a priority for poverty reduction and shared prosperity in Central Asia. Such impacts are already being felt and are expected to intensify, with the agriculture, energy, and water sectors most at risk.

Desertification in arid and semiarid areas of Northwest China is a major current environmental issue for the country, caused by the interaction of a naturally dry climate, recurrent periods of prolonged droughts, anthropogenic factors over long periods of time, and specific topographic and geographic conditions. Among the anthropogenic factors are poor land management, inadequate farming techniques and over-cultivation, overgrazing and the removal of natural vegetation; misuse of water resources; and poor environmental and ecosystem management.

This project aims to improve sustainable natural resource management and promote livelihood diversification in selected Tunisian oases.

Tunisia has significant regional and social disparities, especially between the coastal and inland areas. Its oases have always been agricultural production and trade centers that link remote regions together. They cover about 41,710 hectares of the country’s area and are home to around 950,000 people.

This publication provides facts, figures and key messages to encourage more investments in forest and landscape restoration, leading to more restoration action. The Global Partnership on Forest and Landscape Restoration outlines how we can reach the 2020 and 2030 targets, and how we can best collaborate, using regional and global platforms.

The typical response to the loss of forest cover has been to plant trees, usually, but not always, on an industrial scale, and with a limited mix of species. Indeed, planted forests now make up 7 percent of the world’s forest area and contribute over 40 percent of the global industrial wood and fibre supply (FAO, 2010). 

The global agricultural sector today faces the double challenge of feeding a growing population while preserving the underlying natural resources of land, water and air. In the meantime, already a third of the world’s soils are degraded. Soil and nutrient management techniques aimed at restoring soil health will therefore be essential to meeting these challenges.

FAO Informative Material for the International Year of Soils (IYS 2015).

La régénération de la mangrove n’est pas une tâche simple, elle nécessite un certain nombre de précautions et d’engagements de la part des populations concernées et des autorités locales tout comme les institutions gouvernementales et/ou non gouvernementales. L’un des principes de réussite de cette activité de reforestation est de rendre les communautés locales actrices et porteuses du projet. Dans ce cadre, la sensibilisation des populations riveraines aux enjeux de la protection des ressources naturelles : mangrove, couvert végétal et stocks de poissons apparaît primordiale.

When development impacts a broad landscape and causes the loss of multiple ecosystem services, decisions about which of these impacts to offset must be made. We use industrial oil-palm developments in Kalimantan and quantify the potential for restoration to offset oil-palm impacts on carbon storage and biodiversity. We developed a unique backcasting approach combined with a spatial conservation prioritisation framework to identify priority areas for restoration offsetting.