Land degradation is widespread in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and is driven by a combination of interlinked economic, social, and environmental factors. Land degradation affects agricultural production as well as the supply of a range of ecosystem goods and services. To create conditions that allow for the wide-scale adoption of sustainable land management (SLM) practices, policy interventions at different institutional levels are required. In order to support the formulation and implementation of SLM policies, it is necessary to understand the economic impacts of land degradation and the potential benefits of SLM, at different ecological scales. Only when these multi-scale impacts are known and are being considered in the policy formulation process can the development of effective and sustainable SLM policies be expected to take place.
This Research Topic aims to address the following questions
• What are the impacts of land degradation on ecosystem services supply at micro- (village), meso- (district), and macro- (SSA) scales?
• To what extent does a quantitative understanding of the impacts of land degradation and benefits of SLM change the perception of SLM among decision-makers at micro-, meso-, and macro-levels?
• What are the socioeconomic key factors promoting or limiting SLM in SSA?
• To what extent can collective action and a solid foundation at village-level motivate farmers, and what are the financial benefits of participation and collaboration for farmers?
• What are the components of a strategy for triggering the adoption and spreading of SLM from successful farmers to the whole village?
• What are the components of a strategy for horizontal scaling-up of SLM from village to village, based on the active involvement of mainline institutions?
This collection will include review papers and original research articles which seek to highlight the following research areas; continental, regional and national policies, capacity building, climate change, the role of indigenous knowledge, examples of the best SLM practices for drylands of SSA, governance, financing mechanisms, private sector and entrepreneurship, information and communications technology, SLM approaches, and case studies.
Land degradation is widespread in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and is driven by a combination of interlinked economic, social, and environmental factors. Land degradation affects agricultural production as well as the supply of a range of ecosystem goods and services. To create conditions that allow for the wide-scale adoption of sustainable land management (SLM) practices, policy interventions at different institutional levels are required. In order to support the formulation and implementation of SLM policies, it is necessary to understand the economic impacts of land degradation and the potential benefits of SLM, at different ecological scales. Only when these multi-scale impacts are known and are being considered in the policy formulation process can the development of effective and sustainable SLM policies be expected to take place.
This Research Topic aims to address the following questions
• What are the impacts of land degradation on ecosystem services supply at micro- (village), meso- (district), and macro- (SSA) scales?
• To what extent does a quantitative understanding of the impacts of land degradation and benefits of SLM change the perception of SLM among decision-makers at micro-, meso-, and macro-levels?
• What are the socioeconomic key factors promoting or limiting SLM in SSA?
• To what extent can collective action and a solid foundation at village-level motivate farmers, and what are the financial benefits of participation and collaboration for farmers?
• What are the components of a strategy for triggering the adoption and spreading of SLM from successful farmers to the whole village?
• What are the components of a strategy for horizontal scaling-up of SLM from village to village, based on the active involvement of mainline institutions?
This collection will include review papers and original research articles which seek to highlight the following research areas; continental, regional and national policies, capacity building, climate change, the role of indigenous knowledge, examples of the best SLM practices for drylands of SSA, governance, financing mechanisms, private sector and entrepreneurship, information and communications technology, SLM approaches, and case studies.
