Reversing Ecological Decline: Lessons

In rural Africa, where livelihoods are often directly tied to the land, environmental degradation poses a critical threat to both ecosystems and human well-being. New research reveals solutions to the twin problems of land degradation and poverty.

In rural Africa, where livelihoods are often directly tied to the land, environmental degradation poses a critical threat to both ecosystems and human well-being. A new study co-authored by researchers at Stanford University and the French Agricultural Research Center for International Development (CIRAD) analyzes how different African communities are trying to reverse this trend and offers valuable insights into what is working. A long-term coalition between local communities, governments and organizations is essential to strengthen the transition to sustainability, the study, published on October 30 in the journal Sustainability Science, highlights.

“Every place is different and a one-size-fits-all approach to environmental policy should be avoided, but we also need to learn from past experiences to identify the conditions that lead to success in reversing environmental degradation,” says Eric Lambin, co-author of the study. , George and Setsuko Ishiyama, Provostial Professor at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability and Senior Fellow at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment.

Reversing degradation
For decades, many African communities have faced the dual challenge of environmental degradation while improving people’s livelihoods. As soil becomes less productive due to underfertilization, deforestation or climate change, the pressure on these communities intensifies. Lambin and study co-author Camille Jahel from CIRAD point out that in many cases this situation is inextricably linked to colonial history, where authorities denied people’s rights to natural resources and propagated narratives of natural resource overexploitation. This has led to top-down restoration efforts, often with limited success, according to the researchers.

Recently, new efforts are being made in many areas to overcome these negative trends, often with the support of governments, NGOs or international organizations. However, results have been mixed, with some initiatives making significant progress and others failing.

After examining 17 cases representing diverse initiatives to address land degradation in 13 African countries, researchers found that successful interventions typically share several key characteristics. First, they involve strong social agreements between actors, often supported by well-functioning institutions. In cases like Shinyanga, Tanzania, where 90% of the population is involved in reforestation, the results have been impressive. Between 300,000 and 500,000 hectares, or about 1,100 to 1,900 square miles, of forest were restored in the region, increasing livelihoods by providing resources such as firewood.

Another critical factor is the alignment of incentives with environmental goals. For example, farmers in Burkina Faso started planting cashew trees because of the opportunity to sell their products in international markets. This not only provided a new income stream, but also helped fight desertification as more trees were planted. These cases highlight the importance of environmental restoration efforts also responding to the economic and social needs of communities.

“Incentives were mainly economic in nature, but some were related to securing access to land or improving ecosystem services after natural resource restoration,” said CIRAD researcher Jahel. Jahel was funded by the Stanford France-Stanford Center for Interdisciplinary Studies for a joint research project with the Stanford Woods Environmental Institute while conducting the research.

Supportive recovery
The study highlights the importance of external support, especially resources and technical assistance, in addition to local coalitions. In many successful cases, such as Niger and Burkina Faso, NGOs and government agencies have provided the necessary tools, knowledge and financial support to implement projects. This external support was often vital in the early stages of interventions, reducing the risk associated with adopting new practices in a context of resource scarcity and climate variability.

However, the study also warns of the importance of carefully managing external support. In some cases, top-down approaches that did not fully involve local communities led to limited success or even failure. For example, an intervention to restore wildlife populations in Zambia’s Kafue Flats ultimately failed in part because the new management structures imposed by external actors were not accepted by the local community. This highlights the need for foreign agencies to work closely with local stakeholders and respect existing social and governance systems.

Lambin and Jahel emphasize the need to maintain momentum over the long term. Some of the interventions they studied showed positive results initially, but waned as foreign funding dried up or local interest waned. The researchers emphasize the importance of building long-term sustainability in these projects, ensuring that local communities are able to manage and sustain improvements without ongoing external support. For example, some community organizations known as nature conservation in Namibia generate enough income to sustain their activities over time.

By providing general lessons learned from past experiences in Africa, this study can help improve the design, management and monitoring of projects aimed at reversing land degradation and adopting sustainable land use practices.

“It is possible to guide environmental degradation,” Lambin said. “The key lies in creating long-term locally driven interventions [and] integrate poverty-related challenges supported by strong governance structures and based on coalitions of actors”.