Key success factors
There were several reasons for the success of the restoration initiative.
• Implementation had the active participation of the local community; i.e., it was community- led restoration.
• Restoration produced short- and long-term economic and environmental benefits.
• It systematically included women, girls and youth in restoration activities.
• The former village leader had the leadership capacity to mobilize the local community.

The food system challenges require simultaneous action across different sectors and concerted efforts of diverse players in food systems. While past efforts inclined towards boosting gricultural production, today’s focus has shifted to influencing transformative changes to the entire food systems continuum, from production and processing to marketing and distribution, using innovative solutions. Sub-Saharan Africa has been facing unprecedented challenges that affect the sustainability of food and agriculture systems, putting food and nutrition security at significant risk.

The West African Sahel is very vulnerable to the effects of climate change, due to land degradation, dependence on rainfed farming, political instability, poor governance, food insecurity, terrorism, poor infrastructure, and limited technical capacity. This has particular impacts on the agricultural sector (Sissoko et al. 2011; Zougmoré et al. 2016).

The United Nations General Assembly declared 2021 to 2030 as the decade of ‘ecosystem restoration’, signalling a global consensus on the urgency to restore degraded lands. Restoring degraded lands is critical to regain lost ecological functionality that underpins life-sustaining ecosystem services, such as the provision of food, fresh water, and fibre, and the regulation of climate, natural disasters, and pests. Indeed, restoration is fundamental for meeting the triple goals of tackling the climate crisis, reversing biodiversity loss, and improving human wellbeing.

This chapter sets out to present a short review of (i) the general context of land degradation under the framework of UNCCD – the international convention on desertification with a specific focus on Land Degradation Neutrality, and (ii) examples of the main processes responsible for soil degradation (e.g. surface crusting, runoff and water erosion, tillage erosion, wind erosion, and salinization), along with the principles of desertification control and land rehabilitation, in light of the socioeconomic context and ecological conditions and processes.

Since the mid-1980s, the positive impacts of these simple, cost-efficient water harvesting techniques become clear, following their increasingly widespread adoption. Their use has allowed smallholders to reverse land degradation, improve soil fertility, sustainably increase crop production, achieve food security, and create more productive, diverse and resilient farming systems. At the same time, groundwater is recharged, improving access to drinking water for the entire year, and creating opportunities for irrigated vegetable gardening around wells.

Funding from the voluntary carbon market (VCM) can help to restore productive landscapes, if it is embedded in the local context of traditions and in state governance systems. Restoration efforts under a performance-based VCM programme, if planned well, can also improve livelihoods.

Produced jointly by the secretariats of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), with contributions from multiple stakeholders, this technical guide addresses the integration of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries, and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (VGGT) within the implementation of the UNCCD and Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN), thus opening a new chapter in ongoing efforts to combat desertification, land degradation, and drought

The Sahel region's Great Green Wall Initiative received a major boost from the African Development Bank on Monday. During a forum
hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron and His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, the Bank pledged to assist in mobilising up
to $6.5 billion over five years, to advance the landmark initiative.
The resources will be made available through a range of programmes in support of the Great Green Wall by drawing on internal as well

TMG Research is working with the governments of Benin, Kenya, Madagascar, and Malawi to advance the implementation of the UNCCD Land Tenure Decision 26/
COP.14. The partnership involves analyses of the impact of activities to achieve Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) on legitimate land tenure rights and to devise ways to secure legitimate tenure rights and achieve LDN. It benefits from support by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Development and Cooperation  and GIZ.
 

Women and men have unequal opportunities to address land degradation. While adoption of Sustainable Development Goal target 15.3 leads the world to ‘strive towards land degradation neutrality (LDN)’ by 2030, gender concerns are sparsely considered in LDN programming to date. To achieve LDN in regions with deeply entrenched socio‐cultural norms requires gender‐responsiveness, accounting for the varied gender components of land degradation.

Land degradation is a major global issue and achieving a land degradation-neutral world is one of the Sustainable Development Goals. However, striving for land degradation neutrality (LDN) is challenged by increasing claims on land resources and could result in major land use conflicts. The aim of this study is to demonstrate how LDN can be implemented in land system modelling and how achieving LDN alongside sufficient supplies of food, timber and shelter could affect future land system patterns, using the Republic of Turkey as a case study.