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Evaluating the scaling potential of sustainable land management projects in the Sahelian Great Green Wall countries

Mechiche-Alami, Altaaf LU ; O’Byrne, David LU ; Tengberg, Anna LU and Olsson, Lennart LU (2022) In Environmental Research Letters 17(8).
Abstract

The Great Green Wall (GGW) Initiative aims at combatting land degradation while achieving socio-economic development across the Sahel through a mosaic of sustainable land management (SLM) and restoration practices. As the Global Environment Facility (GEF) is the main funding mechanism for land degradation neutrality related projects, we have analyzed its previous SLM projects in four pilot countries in an effort to assess their capacity to foster scaling of interventions and fast track progress towards the GGW objectives. We developed a literature-based scaling evaluation framework and scoring methods to harmonize the GEF agency based project ratings in terms of performance and persistence along seven evaluation domains. We found that... (More)

The Great Green Wall (GGW) Initiative aims at combatting land degradation while achieving socio-economic development across the Sahel through a mosaic of sustainable land management (SLM) and restoration practices. As the Global Environment Facility (GEF) is the main funding mechanism for land degradation neutrality related projects, we have analyzed its previous SLM projects in four pilot countries in an effort to assess their capacity to foster scaling of interventions and fast track progress towards the GGW objectives. We developed a literature-based scaling evaluation framework and scoring methods to harmonize the GEF agency based project ratings in terms of performance and persistence along seven evaluation domains. We found that projects perform better over time particularly in terms of monitoring, financing and resilience to shocks but are overall only moderately likely to achieve benefits persistent over time, which is necessary to allow for the scaling of interventions. While these efforts should be maintained and further pursued, we also recommend special attention to be placed on a number of interventions that are often less successful or ignored by projects such as enforcing mechanisms for new SLM regulations, empowering vulnerable groups and ensuring sufficient capacity and finances for sustaining achievements even during periods of political or climatic instability.

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author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
broad adoption, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Global Environmental Facility, land degradation, Niger, Senegal, sustainable development, theory of change
in
Environmental Research Letters
volume
17
issue
8
article number
084016
publisher
IOP Publishing
external identifiers
  • scopus:85135373764
ISSN
1748-9318
DOI
10.1088/1748-9326/ac8111
project
Large-scale Assessment of Land Degradation to guide future investment in SLM in the Great Green Wall countries
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
ca9e60b7-3b6f-45ca-9db0-b2492e1ee877
date added to LUP
2022-09-13 12:48:26
date last changed
2022-11-28 15:47:17
@article{ca9e60b7-3b6f-45ca-9db0-b2492e1ee877,
  abstract     = {{<p>The Great Green Wall (GGW) Initiative aims at combatting land degradation while achieving socio-economic development across the Sahel through a mosaic of sustainable land management (SLM) and restoration practices. As the Global Environment Facility (GEF) is the main funding mechanism for land degradation neutrality related projects, we have analyzed its previous SLM projects in four pilot countries in an effort to assess their capacity to foster scaling of interventions and fast track progress towards the GGW objectives. We developed a literature-based scaling evaluation framework and scoring methods to harmonize the GEF agency based project ratings in terms of performance and persistence along seven evaluation domains. We found that projects perform better over time particularly in terms of monitoring, financing and resilience to shocks but are overall only moderately likely to achieve benefits persistent over time, which is necessary to allow for the scaling of interventions. While these efforts should be maintained and further pursued, we also recommend special attention to be placed on a number of interventions that are often less successful or ignored by projects such as enforcing mechanisms for new SLM regulations, empowering vulnerable groups and ensuring sufficient capacity and finances for sustaining achievements even during periods of political or climatic instability.</p>}},
  author       = {{Mechiche-Alami, Altaaf and O’Byrne, David and Tengberg, Anna and Olsson, Lennart}},
  issn         = {{1748-9318}},
  keywords     = {{broad adoption; Burkina Faso; Ethiopia; Global Environmental Facility; land degradation; Niger; Senegal; sustainable development; theory of change}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{8}},
  publisher    = {{IOP Publishing}},
  series       = {{Environmental Research Letters}},
  title        = {{Evaluating the scaling potential of sustainable land management projects in the Sahelian Great Green Wall countries}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac8111}},
  doi          = {{10.1088/1748-9326/ac8111}},
  volume       = {{17}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}