March 2018: The Economics of Land Degradation (ELD) Initiative and the World AgroForestry Centre (ICRAF) kicked-off capacity building workshops for eight African countries participating in the EU-funded ‘Scaling Up Evergreen Africulture’ project. The project builds on these countries’ target setting processes aimed at achieving the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 15 (Life on land) target 15.3 on land degradation neutrality (LDN).

Held in Senegal, Mali, and Niger, in February 2018, the workshops brought together representatives of national EU delegations, ministries and research institutions to discuss research priorities as well as study sites for carrying out assessments of land-based ecosystem services and the benefits of investing in sustainable land management (SLM).

Among land degradation hotspots that were identified for further study were the Thiès-groundnut basin and Louga sylvo-pastoral zone in Senegal; the Koutiala area in Mali, which is experiencing severe impacts from intensive cotton production; and three climatic zones in Niger where various conservation agriculture techniques are being applied.

The project was launched in September 2017 at ICRAF in Nairobi, Kenya. ICRAF is a member of the CGIAR Consortium. [ELD Press Release] [ELD Press Release on EVA Project Launch]