Millions of households in 27 countries have benefited
from technical and financial support to develop investment framework in sustainable
land and water management to drive food and water security.
TerrAfrica is poised to sustain the momentum with new
alliances for resilient landscape approaches whilst allowing countries to
develop their investment opportunities.
The African-driven global partnership is spearheaded by
the African Union’s New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) Agency and
bilateral partners, including the World Bank.
“If we do not manage our lands enough, this is a threat
related to our productivity and our food security,” noted Emmanuel Seck, whose eda energie has been working with
TerrAfrica to improve civil society involvement in sustainable land management
in sub-Saharan Africa.
The ravaging impact of land and water degradation as
well as climate change is found across the whole agricultural value chain in
Africa.
The challenges, however, offer investment opportunities
for the private sector in areas of production and processing, says Martin
Bwalya, Head, Program Development; Programme Implementation and Coordinating Directorate,
NEPAD.
“In Africa, specifically in agriculture, we have relied
so much on donor aid and donor support. Whereas we acknowledge that there is role
for donor support and aid, we are saying this is viable business at all levels,”
he said.
In recognizing the centrality of land as an economic
resource, TerrAfrica supports the sustainable use of land and water at the
community, national and regional levels.
Sean DeWitt, Director, Global Restoration Initiative at
the World Resources Institute (WRI), believes TerrAfrica can be at the centre
of creating regenerative industries by identifying business models that
encourage impact investments.
“I think the private sector is very well positioned to
provide a very healthy input into the landscape initiatives because they can
mobilize tremendous amount of capital and models that work,” he said.
Studies indicate 65 percent of all African landscapes
are affected by degradation and about 2.8million hectares of forests are lost
every year, affecting productivity and function of lands.
TerrAfrica is already dealing with something that is
fundamental to resilience, livelihoods and economic growth.
Vore Gana Seck of Green Senegal says the importance of
soils, water and vegetation in food production should make the landscape approach
a priority for Africa to be resilient.
Her view is shared by Sean who has noted that landscape
restoration remains critical for climate vulnerable people in Africa.
He has therefore lauded TerrAfrica’s new strategic plan
focused on landscapes to leverage on interventions to solve problems in the
forest and agricultural sectors.
The Africa Resilience Landscape Initiative will restore
100million square kilometers of land by 2030.
At the launch of the initiative, Co-Chair of the
TerrAfrica Partnership, Estherine Lisinge-Fotabong charged African states to
commit to such projects, in response to their climate vulnerabilities.
“I’d like to invite African countries to join forced as
they have been doing through the TerrAfrica programme and building on what they
have achieved so far through the development of their country investment
frameworks, to continue to ensure that we integrate resilience landscape
approach into our natural resource management policies and practices,” she
said.
The World Bank has been a major partner of the
TerrAfrica programme – invested $4.4 billion in various sectors.
Magda Lovel, Practice Manager at the Bank believes the
TerrAfrica evolution would make agriculture part of a larger integrated
landscape management involving land, water, forest and biodiversity.
“It was demonstrated that it is possible to stop the
desert, it is possible to restore degraded lands and it is also possible to do
that at larger scale. So, that knowledge and experience is now creating the new
momentum,” she stated.
She noted that the integrated of land degradation
neutrality, climate smart agriculture, biodiversity protection and forest
restoration should put people’s lives and socio-economic development in focus.
Interventions by TerrAfrica can be linked to climate
mitigation and adaptation activities, especially with land restoration and
afforrestation projects, according to Mamadou Moussa Diakhite, Principal
Programme Officer and Team Leader, Sustainable Land and Water Management
programme of the NEPAD Agency.
He describes the ten year journey of TerrAfrica as being
both exciting and challenging.
Mamadou has identified three priority areas under the
five-year strategic plan for TerrAfrica, from 2016-2020. These include building
regional and national platforms of TerrAfrica for integrated landscape management,
increase knowledge management and support for countries to develop investment
framework of prioritized activities on sustainable land and water management.
Civil society partner, Emmanuel Seck hopes the
TerrAfrica platform would be expanded to benefit more countries.
Building climate resilience for water, energy and food
security in Africa must be supported by a multi-faceted policy approach by
governments, private sector and development partners.
Hopefully, the TerrAfrica connection will deliver on turning
the landscapes of Africa to green.
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