Integrated Landscape Approaches for Africa’s Drylands

Integrated Landscape Approaches for Africa’s Drylands presents emerging fi ndings on the importanceof moving beyond single-sector interventions to embrace integrated landscape managementthat takes into account the health of the ecosystems that support human livelihoods andcontribute to the resilience of rural communities in Sub-Saharan African drylands. Integratedlandscape management is particularly important for these drylands because people depend onproduction systems that are frequently disrupted by exogenous shocks such as drought.The ecological and economic evidence presented in this book shows that integrated landscapemanagement can enhance efforts to invest in tree-based systems and improved livestockmanagement and support productivity increases for rain-fed cropping. Integrated landscapemanagement efforts have helped to coordinate the actions of multiple land users and other stakeholders,reduced confl icts, and improved overall governance of water, land, and other resources.Integrated landscape management is thus a useful approach to enhance the intensifi cation ofdryland cropping systems and will, in many locations (but not always), result in multiple wins—including improved farm productivity, water benefi ts at the farm and landscape levels, carbonsequestration, biodiversity and other ecosystem services benefi ts, and higher climate resilience.Various policies and related interventions can be used to trigger and accelerate the scaling up ofthese benefi ts through integrated landscape management across Sub-Saharan African drylands torestore and increase household and ecological resilience. Policies are needed to develop theframework conditions necessary to both initiate new programs and modify and scale up existingrestoration and resilience efforts. The book highlights policy options, covering six broad interventionareas: (1) Clarify land rights and responsibilities; (2) Encourage multistakeholder involvement andcollective action; (3) Overcome institutional barriers to integrated landscape management;(4) Create conditions for adaptive planning and management; (5) Create mechanisms andsupporting policies for sustainable and long-term fi nancing of integrated landscape management;and (6) Invest in a solid evidence base and knowledge-sharing platforms for integrated landscapemanagement.