General

Increase transparency on land deals

General

With growing land-use pressures and consequent severe soil erosion, many East African socio-ecological systems are at a tipping point. Continued and accelerating soil erosion presents a credible threat to community and ecological resilience to future climate change shocks. Soil erosion and downstream siltation problems challenge water, food and energy security, with growing threat from climate change. Even under 'normal' climatic conditions, soil erosion reduces water and nutrient retention, biodiversity and plant primary productivity on agricultural land putting stress on food production, notwithstanding ecosystem and water resource/power generation impacts downstream. This undermines the resilience of communities that depend on soil and water resources, and shocks are often amplified by physical and socio-cultural positive feedback mechanisms. Shocks can, however, lead to a learning experience that propels a system to a qualitatively different pathway. This can support greater-than-previous levels of resilience (sometimes termed 'bounce back'). Co-production of sustainable land management practises will help enable agrarian and pastoral communities to (1) withstand shock of future extreme hydro-climatic events and (2) recover from prior environmental impacts to a resilience level beyond the prior state through restoration/enhancement of degraded landscapes. Facilitating a step change in land management practice to reduce complex soil erosion impacts is a fundamental target within the UN Sustainable Development Goals, a challenge that requires an interdisciplinary approach. To bring about urgently needed change in land management practice behaviour, evidence is required to demonstrate how social resilience is intrinsically linked to landscape/ecological resilience through the coupled co-evolution of natural resource systems and dependent rural communities. The East African Rift System (EARS) region has the highest catchment sediment yields of sub-Saharan Africa linked in part to topography and rainfall but also to recent and historic land conversion to agriculture and, in particular, increasing livestock numbers on grasslands. Extreme drought and rainfall events, which are already a characteristic feature of tropical climatology (e.g., linked to enSO), are widely accepted to increase in magnitude and/or frequency with global climate change. There is a real risk that, in the absence of community-owned soil management programmes, recent land use change will amplify hydro-climatic and consequent societal impacts. This is exacerbated by socio-cultural lock-ins such as power and esteem gained by owning livestock, putting pressure on fragile ecosystems and ecosystem services, with repercussions for economic and human health. Experts in soil erosion and land degradation problem identification are not necessarily experts in socio-economic and socio-cultural solutions. To tackle this challenge, we propose an interdisciplinary approach to designing sustainable land management practices that would enable rural communities affected by soil erosion to overcome post-erosion shocks and achieve a higher level of resilience than previously. Through novel integration of environmental science, arts and humanities and social science evidence, this project will map out potential behavioural changes and how these can be embedded in the design and implementation of soil conservation and restoration strategies. The interdisciplinary approach in this foundation-building programme will develop knowledge of complex interlinkages between soil degradation, climate change, and community resilience in the EARS region, as well as to explore pathways to possible solutions. Interdisciplinary evidence of the problem will be explored against complex socio-cultural community concerns and needs, and potential solutions will be considered with stakeholder groups to identify and underpin future behavioural change in land management.

Objectives

The Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) supports cutting-edge research to address challenges faced by developing countries. The fund addresses the UN sustainable development goals. It aims to maximise the impact of research and innovation to improve lives and opportunity in the developing world.

General

There is a urgent need for provision of water and sanitation services as basic human right and enforcement of relevant regulations that affecting the improvement peri-urban settlements in Zambia which requires to be improved for both the livelihood and the environment. The Overall Objective of the Project is to Upscale the Implementation + Operationalise through Public Private Partnership the lessons learnt from Zambia Sustainable Sanitation Improvement Project (SSIP) a 6 years Longitudinal Action Ori ented Research Recommendations implemented by NECOS + Its International Partner GDTF. The project will promote equal access to clean water better sanitation and safe environment for the targeted communities. For some time NECOS has been pioneering alter native methods of providing sanitation services in peri-urban areas taking into account the need to protect contamination of underground water and the environment in general. The project promotes the assertion that equality between women and men is fundame ntal to tackling poverty and promoting meaningful and lasting improvements in the quality of community life. The construction dry toilets will significantly expected to contribute to improved peri-urban areas if intervention actions are taken. NECOS striv es to raise the standard of living and improved community healthy to reduce the environment health risks and costs of public health importance. The project planned to construct 150 dry toilets + build on the achievements of the six (6 years) longitu dinal action oriented research on the social-cultural sanitation financing mechanisms and the upgrading of the peri urban living environment. The main beneficiaries of the proposed project are the vulnerable people in the four 4 Constituencies and 8 W ards with population estimated at 18000 of the peri- urban residents including the councilors and area members of parliament. Project key activities include the construction of 150 Dry ToiletsFacilitating Policy Dialogue Workshops SMEs training + capac ity building School WASHE + Community Hygiene PromotionStakeholder meetings Monitoring +EvaluationReport writings Policy Brief IECs Materials + Ecosan user manual developmentImproved Tenure security promotionUrban Small Scale farming promotionSanitation M arketingPromotion of Sanitation Loan and Social Schemes introductionFacilitating student internships finalisingEcosan Curriculum Creating and Compilation of