On the 10th of March 2020, the ELD Initiative held a dissemination workshop in Kenya. This workshop served to present the results from the ELD case study and facilitate a policy dialogue, as part of ELD's component in the "Regreening Africa" project. (See below for the French version)
The ELD case study involved the comparison of sustainable land management in Northern Kenya and the Aberdare Ranges water tower area. The study found that there is a lack of cooperation and organisation, which leads to poor governance and a lack of incentives. Other results include:
- There is need for a clear understanding on what land degradation means, what the key drivers are and how existing policies propagate land degradation.
- Some of the recent government interventions to address soil infertility are inappropriate. For instance, the provision of fertiliser subsidies has the negative externality of being too acidic and not suitable for every type of soils.
- There are gender inequalities in management and conservation of rangeland resources.
- There is disconnect in efforts/initiatives between the national and county governments. Their priorities differ, and they are not working cooperatively.
- There is a lack of organised farmer group. The focus needs to be on reinforcing and increasing the capacity of existing farmers groups.
Following on from these results, the stakeholders pointed out that there is a need for government to find ways for actors and institutions in the land degradation space to work together in implementing activities that will promote land restoration. In particular, the stakeholders stated that:
- Land tenure issues should be given priority and relevant policies should be formulated and implemented to address it. Land tenure is often not included as a key driver for land degradation.
- Capacity building should be reinforced to help local communities understand the benefits of sustainable land management practices.
- The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock at both the national and county government have a critical role to play, especially in creating awareness of SLM practices.
- The private sector has an important role to play in driving the investment into, and uptake of, SLM practices. Ways to engage with them need to be explored.
These stakeholder views will be included in the final report, which is due for publication in April 2020 along with the policy brief. The ELD Initiative thanks all parties involved for their contributions, ideas and enthusiasm, and in particular, our partners in Kenya.
The research is part of the Regreening Africa project, co-financed by the European Commission and the BMZ.