Energy and Environment

Lessons and Practices

Past experiences and practices in dryland management are shared in the UNSO (now UNDP Drylands Development Centre) Project Compendium featuring an overview on UNSO's entire project portfolio under its previous mandate including overviews on 12 project categories, close to 70 project summaries and comprehensive project tables covering 794 individual interventions.

UNSO (NOW UNDP DRYLANDS DEVELOPMENT CENTRE) PROJECT COMPENDIUM(Note from the Director)
Individuals are the living memory of past developments and changes and are usually in the best position to share experiences and lessons. As people move on and as institutional mandates, priorities and approaches change these experiences get increasingly covered with the dusty veil of history.

This compendium tries to capture the Drylands Development Centre's (formely UNSO) past experiences in combating desertification over a quarter century through the lens of UNSO supported efforts in 23 countries of the Sudano-Sahelian region of Africa.

We believe that the interested researcher or practitioner will find a rich and useful source of facts, knowledge and practices related to dryland development.

It is our hope that this compendium will not only be an institutional memory of past experiences but even more the source of inspiration for effectively promoting Sustainable Human Development in the World's drylands, particularly through implementing the Convention to Combat Desertification (CCD). Your feedback or contributions are welcome.

Philip Dobie
Director, UNDP Drylands Development Centre.

THE PROJECT CATEGORIES:
The Project has been summarised into 12 categories as listed below. Each category contains a substantive introduction, which provides an overview on the types of projects covered, on developments and approaches. A linked list of relevant project summaries follows.
Very few projects actually fit neatly into a specific category. Usually there are elements that would as well illustrate dimensions of other categories. Thus, for example, most projects do have components aimed at capacity development and institutional strengthening. A project dealing with pastoral lands may also be one of environmental monitoring. As indicated above, many programmes have undergone significant changes from a more sectoral to a more integrated nature. These changes reflect a learning process and a general shift in paradigms and approaches to natural resource management.

Attributions were made only to one category based on primary objectives of the intervention and with a view to illustrate the respective types of intervention. It is therefore useful to refer also to other relevant categories. The substantive introductions also help to understand those linkages.

• Drought Relief, Mitigation & Preparedness
• Soil Conservation & Land Reclamation
• Forestry/Agro-Forestry
• Local Level Land & Integrated Resource Management
• Food Security & Livestock Development
• Pastoral/Nomadic Landuse Systems
• Strategic Planning & Institution Building
• Environmental Information Systems & Ecological Monitoring
• Regional Institutional Strengthening, Collaboration & International Frameworks
• Technical Publications & "State-of-the-Art" Events
• Formulation, Evaluation, Programme Support & Others