European Tropical Forest Research Network

Rehabilitation of degraded lands in Sub-Saharan Africa

Discusion summary: Research, development and policy priorities

INTRODUCTION

The main topics for the period 14-25 April were research, development and policy priorities, very wide subjects which had been partly discussed earlier under other themes. For a start we had the excellent theme paper (Chikamai and Kigomo) which drew attention to gaps in knowledge, which research can fill, with three case studies from dryland Kenya. Ben and Bernard listed many items of importance which I will not repeat here - they are in the paper. It is a formidable list which we must now try to prioritise.

In my own paper for the theme I added that a major issue was identifying gaps in enabling policies and political initiatives. I mentioned that the outputs of research are primarily knowledge, but also technologies and sometimes materials. I indicated how we might prioritise research topics and finally listed some features of an Integrated Ecosystem Management approach which might guide us.

RESULTS
We had some good discussions, though perhaps the groups were a little weary by this stage of the discussion! I will divide my summary into two parts, the first on what was said over the past two weeks and the second on what was not said, or only touched on, which still has to be addressed. These are more policy and socioeconomic oriented, some of which were highlighted by Prof. Owino and Frank Berninger earlier in the meeting. Because no matter how good our technologies, they are useless if policies prevent them being applied. For active researchers who are anxious to get on with their work there is an understandable tendency not to look beyond the present for emphasis on research and policy.

IMMEDIATE RESEARCH TOPICS
A good deal of the discussions were on these immediate practical problems - what I called in my paper Problem-solving or Optimising research. Major research areas discussed included:

• The use of urban waste water for tree growing, (peri-urban plantations etc). There are success stories from Africa in the past and much of the technology is already known. There is also much experience from countries such as India and Australia in using trees to dispose of toxic effluents. In dry Africa the first priority for most towns would be to obtain water and to install sewage systems - trees would certainly be in second place.
• The importance of genetic improvement; specific subjects mentioned included the development and use of thornless Prosopis species. The use and potentials of biotechnology and genetic engineering were also referred to.
• Benefits of using vegetative propagation methods. A wide array of techniques was described, all of which can undoubtedly contribute to the restoration of vegetative cover and the manipulation of genotypes, all of them usable by farmers after training.
• The use of plantations of all kinds. It was suggested the much experience from dry environments from south and west Asia was not widely known in Africa. Yet such technologies could well be adapted to African conditions and it seemed to be agreed that Africa had a high potential for tree plantations. One particular example was the use of overstorey crops to enhance microclimates for re-establishment of ground vegetation.
• The encouragement of beneficial socioeconomic conditions, getting ownership back into the hands of local communities as far as possible.
• Poverty is widespread in dry zones, especially in Africa. This means that high inputs of external energy are not feasible, closing off many options of profitable and sustainable land use which are possible in richer communities. We therefore have an interest in food-producing trees, not only from their own seeds and fruits but also as forage especially for bees.
• Trees off farms - TOF - often in agroforestry systems are still not widely appreciated in policy making.

STRATEGIC RESEARCH DEALING WITH CHANGE
What is still needed (and this we hope will form a major part of the workshop discussion) is strategic research taking a long view. Some topics are:

• Environmental change especially in climate;
• Ecological degradation and change;
• Social change, local and national;
• Economic change, local and national;
• Economic changes, international;
• Enabling policy changes that will be needed to facilitate coping with change;
• Change implications from international agreements and conventions.

Much land degradation in dry zones has been driven by economic forces - pressures of commercial farming, demands by governments for taxes, sudden appearances of markets for a single commercial product. Many of the commercial demands have been for large quantities of biomass, such as charcoal, although some have been environmentally benign, such as honey and beeswax. The point here is that technological research is only part of the answer and there is a need for much more knowledge about the economics of land use. Plantations are increasingly widespread but they demand relatively high inputs; their economics often make their products too costly to compete with materials taken from natural formations.

There is also a need for more knowledge about the processes involved in land use decision making, by farmers, by foresters, by officials. Land use planning is almost entirely Agricultural Land Use Planning; it seldom looks at forests, nor even at trees outside forests. Agroforestry as a discipline is quite recent and the management of rangelands often sees woody plants - "bush encroachment" - as part of the problem rather than as a component in maintaining land productivity. Yet most commercial rangelands were created by land clearance.

We should address Dr Bellefontaine's question "how can we restore the woody vegetation to create environmental stability" as a particularly relevant one, which needs both technology and enabling policy to address it.

We must also explore further how to facilitate effective land use negotiation platforms involving farmers and other land users (eg nomadic peoples), foresters, officials, agricultural extension agents, and others.