Governo Italiano
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The mismanagement of land has negative effects that can spread quickly with even global impacts, triggering food security crises, migration, poverty and conflicts. At the same time, land is also at the center of community-led initiatives to create new opportunities for vulnerable populations through a "landscape approach", in order to promote economically, socially and environmentally sustainable life styles. Based on the restoration of degraded lands, these life styles promote also a virtuous cycle in which local populations become long-term custodians of their lands.
Following this approach, is under definition the project "Creating lands of opportunity: Transforming Livelihoods through Landscape Restoration in the Sahel". The project is financed by MASE through its support to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and will be implemented by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
The project aims to contribute significantly and sustainably to the recovery of the landscape in the Sahel region and in particular in Burkina Faso, Ghana and Niger. At the same time it promotes the start-up of income-generating activities in local communities and support women emancipation through the assignment of a key role in interventions related to agriculture and the fight against soil degradation.
The duration of the project is expected to be of 36 months. Among the expected results it is estimated that 20,000 hectares of degraded areas will be rehabilitated and that about 300,000 people will be able to benefit from new sources of income, with particular attention to young people and women.
The initiative was born from the meeting in Delhi, in September 2019, on the occasion of the UNCCD COP14, between the then Italian Minister of Environment, Sergio Costa, with the Executive Secretary of UNCCD Ibrahim Thiaw.
The contribution of the MASE to the project is equal to 6 million euros, of which 2.5 have already been transferred.
Documentation
Text of the project
