A big challenge to restoring degraded land is that ecological, economic, social, and institutional context differs from location to location, village to village and even household to household. No single technology, intervention or practice will suit all situations. What is urgently needed are locally relevant options that will work for different farmers and communities in varying contexts.The Options by Context (OxC) approach responds to this need by matching and tailoring solutions to local conditions. This manual provides restoration practitioners and trainers with a step-by-step guide on how to apply the OxC approach in land restoration efforts and offers practical examples and case studies from eastern Kenya.
Tag: degraded land
The Regreening Africa App User Guideline
Increasing rice productivity in degraded peatlands using improved planting methods and rice varieties
Sonor farming practical has become a habit for local community of South Sumatra. In fact, this agricultural practice still results in low production. This research was conducted to determine the comparison of planting methods by farmers with improving planting methods with 2 new high yielding varieties. This research was conducted in Perigi Village, Pangkalan Lampam District, Ogan Komering Ilir Regency, South Sumatra Province from December 2019 to April 2020. The research method used was a Split Plot Design with two factors, namely factor 1 was rice varieties and factor 2 was planting method, where the main plot was planting method including: T1: Broadcasting 25 kg/ha, T2: Broadcasting 75 kg/ha, T3: Legowo 2: 1 (20x40x10 cm), and T4: transplanting (20×20 cm) and the sub plot rice varieties, V1: Inpari 30 and V2: Inpara 3. There are 8 treatment combinations with 3 replications. The results showed that the improvement of planting methods showed an increasing in yield in terms of total tiller number, productive tiller number, grain number per panicles, grain weight panicles, grain weight per m2, and plant biomass. The Legowo method had higher productivity than otherplanting method with rice productivity 3.7 tonnes per ha. The Inpara 3 showed better growth and production on degraded peatlands.
Growth performance of Calophyllum inophyllum in bioenergy trial plots in Bukit Soeharto Forest, East Kalimantan
The Indonesian government has committed to providing its entire population with energy through the National Energy Policy, which highlights the importance of diversification, environmental sustainability, and enhanced deployment of domestic energy resources. The contribution of new and renewable energy (NRE) to the nation’s energy supply is mandated to reach 23% by 2025, with bioenergy an important NRE alternative. If developed and deployed appropriately, bioenergy plantations have potential to restore degraded land and enhance biodiversity and environmental services while supporting rural livelihoods. As a potential biofuel tree species suited to the tropics, Calophyllum inophyllum (nyamplung) is being tested across wide-ranging degraded forest conditions in Indonesia. Nyamplung is a potential biodiesel alternative as it grows well in harsh environmental conditions, produces non-edible seed oil, has high amounts of kernel oil and fruits profusely. Here we report growth performance in plantation trial plots established in February 2018, on previously burned land in Mulawarman University’s Bukit Soeharto Research and Educational Forest. Growth of this two-year old plantation is strong compared to other Indonesian sites, with average survival rate above 90% on Ultisol soil, which is classified as low fertility and acidic. The findings reveal that different doses of fertilizer applications and slope gradient have no significant effects on growth performance. In addition, trees have already started to flower and fruit, and are colonized by bird species and insects, including bees and butterflies.The study indicates that nyamplung adapts well to different land and soil types. Bioenergy plantations on degraded land are a promising approach for land restoration, and enhance native biodiversity and environmental services while providing a source of renewable energy.
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Assessing the Realization of Global Land Restoration: A Meta-analysis
Restoring degraded land is essential for regaining ecosystem services (ES) and attaining the UN-Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. Unfortunately, 24% of the global lands are degraded, significantly affecting the lives of 3.2 billion people worldwide. Therefore, innovative restoration practices are vital during ‘UN-Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.’ A meta-analysis of 2093 documents on land degradation and restoration was conducted in this context, and 117 empirical studies were analyzed in detail. These studies were based on the different drivers of land degradation as per the criteria of IPBES and IPCC, respectively. Results suggested that woodland encroachment (18.25%), cropland expansion (18.11%), species loss/compositional shifts (16.06%), climatic factors (14.96%), infrastructure development/urbanization (14.17%), water erosion (13.87%), wind erosion (9.49%) and other demographic pressures (8.66%) were the significant drivers of land degradation. Interestingly, there was a continent-wide change in the critical drivers of land degradation and depleting ES. The infrastructure development/urbanization, demography, and economic attributes were the essential drivers in Asia–Pacific and African regions. In contrast, the fire-regime shift and invasiveness were the significant drivers in Europe, and the climatic attribute was the crucial driver in the Americas. Out of the 117 studies selected worldwide, some ongoing restoration efforts had little emphasis on research-driven on-site restoration for improving different ES. Furthermore, some restoration projects lack proper stakeholder involvement thereby, fail to attract large-scale public acceptance. Moreover, only 12.8% of the studies focused on improving the ES in highly degraded lands. Therefore, this meta-analysis suggests that site-specific, research-driven, and on-site restoration strategies coupled with proper stakeholder engagement are imperative for regaining the ES and functions of the degraded landscape to attain UN-SDG.
The Regreening Africa App
The Regreening Africa App is part of an EU- funded project, titled Regreening Africa, which aims to restore 1million ha of degraded land across eight countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The Regreening App engages farmers and implementors to track restoration practices on the ground through assisted citizen science data collection. There are four modules in the App: farmer-managed natural regeneration (FMNR); tree planting; nurseries; and training.
Building evidence on permanence and leakage for sustainable restoration outcomes
Restoring degraded land offers multiple benefits at local, national and global levels. These include climate change mitigation, reversing biodiversity loss and providing socio-economic benefits to local communities. Unprecedented political will for restoring biodiversity, livelihoods and broader environmental goals has developed globally since the launch of the Bonn Challenge and the New York Declaration on Forests. In the context of these two global initiatives, many countries have pledged to restore millions of hectares of degraded or otherwise unproductive land through a suite of activities that range from conservation of native habitat to the promotion of agroforestry systems, natural forest regrowth, agricultural systems and establishment of tree plantations. As a whole, these actions are intended to support both national agendas and the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.
Tamanu (Calophyllum inophyllum) growth performance on different types of degraded peatlands in Central Kalimantan
To achieve its national goals in climate and landscape resilience, including bioenergy production, the Government of Indonesia has launched an initiative to restore 14 million hectares of degraded land, including 2 million hectares of peatlands, by 2030. Here we present early findings on tamanu adaptability and tree growth (height, diameter and branches) on two types of degraded peatlands in Central Kalimantan. The paper reports peatland type and tamanu tree growth and adaptability in a 3-ha plantation trial plot over three years and a 2-ha plot over two years in Kalampangan and Buntoi villages. Results show survival rates of 82% in the plot on ombrogenous peat in Kalampangan and 81% on topogenous peat in Buntoi. Furthermore, the growth performance of 2-year-old tamanu trees on topogenous peat in Buntoi with an average height of 1.74 m and diameter of 3.97 cm at 5 cm above ground level and 15 branches was better than on ombrogenous peat in Kalampangan with an average height of 0.68 m and diameter of 1.43 cm at 5cm above ground level and five branches. While initial survival and tree growth results are promising, further monitoring of flowering and fruiting is necessary to determine tamanu’s viability for biodiesel production on degraded peatlands.
Workshop on co-designing context-appropriate and gender-responsive land restoration options for Makueni County
The stakeholder workshop on co-designing context-appropriate and gender-responsive land restoration options for Makueni county was held on 27th October 2021 in Wote, Makueni County. The workshop brought together twenty-nine participants from the County Government of Makueni, the Kenya Forest Service (KFS), the Kenya Forestry Research Institute (KEFRI), the African Sand Dam Foundation (ASDF), farmers and Ward Agricultural Officer among others. The workshop was organized as part of the ICRAF-led project on Promoting nature-based solutions for land restoration while strengthening the national monitoring technical working group in Kenya funded by UK-PACT.
Pongamia: A Possible Option for Degraded Land Restoration and Bioenergy Production in Indonesia
Indonesia has 14 million ha of degraded and marginal land, which provides very few benefits for human wellbeing or biodiversity. This degraded land may require restoration. The leguminous tree Pongamia pinnata syn. Milettia pinnata (pongamia) has potential for producing biofuel while simultaneously restoring degraded land. However, there is limited information on this potential for consideration. This paper aims to address the scientific knowledge gap on pongamia by exploring its potential as a biofuel and for restoring degraded land in Indonesia. We applied a literature review to collect relevant information of pongamia, which we analyzed through narrative qualitative and narrative comparative methods with careful compilation and scientific interpretation of retrieved information. The review revealed that pongamia occurs naturally across Indonesia, in Sumatra, Java, Bali, Nusa Tenggara and Maluku. It can grow to a height of 15–20 m and thrive in a range of harsh environmental conditions. Its seeds can generate up to 40% crude pongamia oil by weight. It is a nitrogen-fixing tree that can help restore degraded land and improve soil properties. Pongamia also provides wood, fodder, medicine, fertilizer and biogas. As a multipurpose species, pongamia holds great potential for combating Indonesia’s energy demand and restoring much of the degraded land. However, the potential competition for land and for raw material with other biomass uses must be carefully managed.