Community Innovations in Sustainable Land Management: Lessons from the field in Africa (Earthscan Studies in Natural Resource Management)

It is increasingly recognized that land can be managed most sustainably through involving local communities. This book highlights the potential of a new methodology of uncovering and stimulating community initiatives in sustainable land management in Africa.

Analyses of four contrasting African countries (Ghana, Morocco, South Africa and Uganda) show that as communities directly face the challenges of land degradation, they are likely to develop initiatives themselves in terms of sustainable land management. These initiatives (or ‘innovations’) may be more appropriate and sustainable than those emanating from research stations located far from the communities. The book describes the rationale of the approach used, the set of steps followed, how the project managed to engage the communities to understand the importance of the activities they were undertaking, and how they were stimulated to improve and extend their initiatives and innovativeness.

Examples covered include soil fertility, community forestry, afforestation, water, invasive species and grazing land management. Central to the book is the way communities, and scientists, interacted between the four countries and learnt from each other. The book also shows how the initiatives were outscaled locally.

Maxwell Mudhara lectures at the School of Agricultural, Earth and Environmental Sciences and is Director of the Farmer Support Group, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

William Critchley is a Director of Sustainable Land Management Associates Ltd, UK and former Senior Advisor at the Sustainable Land Management Thematic Unit, Centre for International Cooperation, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Sabina Di Prima is a Sustainable Land Management Specialist at the Centre for International Cooperation, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Saa Dittoh teaches in the Department of Climate Change and Food Security, University for Development Studies, Tamale, Ghana and was formerly Head of the University's Food and Nutrition Security Unit.

Mohamed F. Sessay is a Senior Programme Officer with the Biodiversity Unit of the Division of Environmental Policy Implementation (DEPI), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Nairobi, Kenya. He was Chief of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Biodiversity/Land Degradation/Biosafety Unit in DEPI, UNEP until his retirement in March 2015.