Sustainable land management
Today, the process of land degradation seems to be on an unprecedented scale in sub-Saharan Africa. According to some estimates, nearly two-thirds of the area of productive land in Africa is affected by a progressive dynamic of degradation with its corollary desertification.
Land degradation is felt all the more harshly in sub-Saharan Africa because the level of development there is very closely dependent on natural resources. In a context of rapid population growth (3% per year), the amplification of the land degradation process calls into question the functions and ecological services whose effects impact rural communities and ecosystem services. It poses a threat to the availability of natural resources and livelihoods.
This situation has raised awareness of the challenge of sustainable land management, which has led to mobilization for the establishment of mechanisms likely to guarantee concerted management of the problems posed by land degradation. In this perspective, for ENDA Energie, sustainable land management (SLM) is part of a global strategy to fight against poverty, where communities are placed at the heart of the strategy for soil restoration and protection of the ecosystems they live in. must know how to derive their means of subsistence without destroying them. It is thus made up of a whole set of practices, technologies and tools that make it possible to increase the average productivity of agrosystems, diversify production and improve incomes, while ensuring the long-term availability of natural resources. It thus consists in preventing the degradation of resources – including in the face of climate change, and in strengthening the resilience of communities and ecosystems.
In its approach, ENDA Energie emphasizes on the one hand the inclusive territorial approach involving all local actors, and on the other hand on the approach by sector which aims to promote value chains and access to market for natural resources with high labor potential. The mobilization of communities and local authorities allows the development of the potentialities of the soils such as breeding (milk, meat, skins, etc.), agroforestry (gum trees, Balanites Aegyptiaca, Zyziphus Mauritania), agro-ecology with multipurpose gardens, handicrafts, fish farming, etc.
