have further marginalized drylands people and often led to an erosion of their traditional management practices.
Case study: Sudan – Community based rangeland rehabilitation
The drought-prone Bara province is situated in western Sudan and is mainly composed of desert scrub vegetation and ondulating sand dunes. The average rainfall is around 250 mm per
year with significant seasonal and inter-annual rainfall variability. The land is becoming increasingly degraded as a result of recurring droughts, cultivation of marginal lands,
overstocking of livestock and fuelwood gathering. Since 1992 community based rangeland rehabilitation CBRR for carbon sequestration measurements have been implemented in 17
villages in central Bara province. These measurements mainly consisted of the implementation of simple model community-based natural resource management to prevent
overexploitation of marginal lands and rehabilitate rangelands and the diversification of local production systems to ensure sustainability of the approach as well as to improve socio-
economic conditions. The outcomes of the CBRR project were very successful. Over 700 ha of rangeland were improved. Other achievements of the project included: the establishment of
local institutions to coordinate community natural resource management and community development activities, regeneration and stabilization of five km of sand dunes to halt
expansion of the desert, construction of windbreaks to protect farms from soil erosion, restocking of livestock by replacing goat herds with more resilient and less damaging sheep,
creation of water management sub-committees to better manage wells and the preparation of a drought contingency plan. The main lesson learned was that in order to secure the long-term
effectiveness of the achievements of this project it is crucial to build the capacity of the affected communities in order to enable them to cope with climate-induced stresses IISD,
2003.
4.3.5 The way
forward
“We know the drought will come. What is important is that we are ready when that comes so that we don’t go out with a bowl in hand begging for food.”
Kofi Annan, Financial Times, 6 June 2007 quoted from Trench et al. 2007
A good starting point to reduce the vulnerability of drylands people to climate change is to reverse their marginalization and to provide them with adequate services and support. This
requires recognition of the traditional climate coping strategies of dryland people as well as of their ability to manage drylands in a sustainable way and thus maintain the resilience and
protective functions of drylands against natural hazards. In addition, the resilience of dryland communities can be improved through a wide range of participatory ecosystem management
and restoration activities, including modern approaches, which enable them to better cope with climate-induced stresses, as it has been demonstrated in the case study above.
4.3.6 References
Bounkoungu, E.G. Niamir-Fuller, M., 2001. Biodiversity in Drylands: Challenges and Opportunities for Conservation and Sustainable Use.
http:www.undp.orgbiodiversitybiodiversitycdBiodiversity-in-the-Drylands-Challenge- Paper.pdf.
German Advisory Council on Global Change GACGC, 2007. Climate Change as a Security Risk – Summary for Policy-Makers.
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IISD, 2003. Sustainable Drylands Management. A Strategy for Securing Water Resources and Adapting to Climate Change. Livelihoods and Climate Change. Information Paper 3.
Winnipeg, Canada. International Labour Organization,1989. Convention No. 169 concerning Indigenous and
Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries. IPCC, 2007a. Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability Working Group
II Contribution to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fourth Assessment Report.
Summary for Policy Makers. Brussels, Belgium. IPCC, 2007b. Climate change 2007: Mitigation. Contribution of Working group III to the
Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Summary for Policymakers.
[B. Metz, O. R. Davidson, P. R. Bosch, R. Dave, L. A. Meyer eds], Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA.
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005a. Ecosystems and Human Well-being: Current State and Trends, Volume 1. Chapter 13: Climate Change. Island Press.
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005b: Ecosystems and Human Well-being: Current State and Trends, Volume 1. Chapter 22: Drylands Systems. Island Press.
Millennium Ecosystem AssessmenT, 2005c. Ecosystems and Human Well-being: Desertification Synthesis. World Resources Institute, Washington, DC.;
Trench, P., Rowley, J., Diarra, M., Sano, F., Keita B. 2007. Beyond Any Drought - Root causes of chronic vulnerability in the Sahel. The Sahel Working Group.
World Bank et al. 2002. Poverty and Climate Change. Reducing the Vulnerability of the Poor through Adaptation.
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4.4 Watersheds and climate change
