General

The overall aim is to improve the livelihoods of rural communities in Northern Tanzania, by promoting and facilitating community-based forest management (SO1) and sustainable and climate-smart land use practices (agro-forestry) (SO2). We focus on one region: Arusha. In both specific objectives the interventions focus on three aspects: (1) capacity building courses of community promotors and staff of farmers associations in community forestry and sustainable agriculture (including women and youth particularly) ; (2) field actions in terms of participatory forest management and agroforestry (with special attention for water and soil conservation); (3) promotion of good practices by authorities and institutions. After five years, the farmers associations with which we work will be able to gain a triple win out of their natural capital: socio-economic advantages, resilience towards climate change and a richer biodiversity. This way they can break the vicious circle of land degradation and poverty that threatens rural communities in Tanzania and reduce their vulnerability for climate change.

Objectives

To mainstream sustainable Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR) and Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) for improving flows of ecosystems services of degraded Natural Forest Use Land (NFUL) in soil erosion-prone regions of China, based on a multi-level governance and landscape approach.

Other

Note: Disbursement data provided is cumulative and covers disbursement made by the project Agency.

Target Groups

The durability of the innovative forest landscape restoration interventions demonstrated in the project and upscaled will largely depend on sustained involvement and generation of livelihood benefits for local communities. The estimated project direct beneficiaries include 10,000 local people, of whom 50% are women. These people from the local communities in the project landscapes will benefit directly through strengthened and expanded sustainable livelihood initiatives. Additionally, 17,500 forest workers and ecological forest rangers are among the direct project beneficiaries. These people from the local communities in the project landscapes will benefit directly through strengthened and expanded sustainable livelihood initiatives. Engagement and generation of socioeconomic benefits for local communities is an important aspect of the integrated landscape approach in the project design. The viability of the FLR approaches demonstrated on the project over the long-term will largely depend on sustained involvement of local communities and flow of sustainable livelihood benefits. The project will provide opportunities for local people to be involved in capacity building activities aimed at strengthening their existing or introducing new close-to-nature livelihood models, including under-canopy agroforestry, ecotourism, participatory restoration (e.g., community nursery, planting, and maintenance), etc. Under the current conditions in China, one of the biggest barriers hindering economic prosperity in rural area is that farmers, especially women and ethnic minority farmers often have limited access to green supply chains, lack financial management skills, and are uninformed of real-time market information and of partnership opportunities. By facilitating linkages to local economic associations, cooperatives and women’s groups and ecologically conscious private enterprises who are closer to the marketplace, the prospects of their income generation capabilities and assets accumulation will be substantially improved.Apart from these monetary gains, i.e., increased financial capital, the local direct beneficiaries will gain non-monetary benefits. Adoption of improved NFUL management practices are expected to restore ecosystem functions and services, resulting in improved land productivity, water quality, climate regulation services, erosion control capabilities, etc. These improvements will generate contribute to increased nature capital of the local communities.Significant gains in human capital are also expected through the project interventions. For example, local communities will benefit from knowledge achieved through skills trainings, learning-by-doing, financial management training, etc. The institutional level direct beneficiaries, including 2,500 people at the national level and 17,500 forest workers and ecological forest rangers at the landscape level, will also increase knowledge and hands-on experience. Strengthened institutional capacities will help ensure sustainability of the results achieved during the project and upscaling of the demonstrated interventions in other parts of the landscape and in other regions in the country.In addition, the project strategy emphasizes the need to strengthen social capital in the target landscapes, through establishment of multi-stakeholder, multi-level landscape mechanisms, which will provide local people, including women and ethnic minorities an opportunity to actively participate in the decision-making processes regarding sustainable management of NFUL resources in their communities. The project will also facilitate enhanced social association, e.g., cooperatives, small enterprises, as well as fostering enabling partnerships with governmental entities, NGOs, and private sector enterprises, e.g., through insertion of local farmers into green value chains,.The cumulative monetary and non-monetary benefits will strengthen the resilience of local communities with respect to the expected impacts of climate change, e.g., restored and protected ecosystem functions and services, and also in regard to socioeconomic disruptions, e.g., diversified income opportunities will allow local households to cope with possible market fluctuations or supply chain interruptions, such as those that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. Local communities will also benefit from the enhanced resilience to natural disasters, such as flooding. Mitigation of risks associated with soil erosion will reduce potential losses of both property and life in the project landscapes. Further, improved soil restoration at scale can bring benefits to the agricultural sector and thus the economy generally. It is not only those in the upstream forest areas that will benefit, but downstream farmers across wide areas in China will also be important beneficiaries of soil restoration work. Livelihood diversification, as promoted by the project (both in the livelihood demonstrations and the rubber and tea monoculture upgrade to forest corridor demos), if replicated on a wide scale, will bring strong socioeconomic benefits beyond the project landscapes.The durability of the global environmental benefits achieved through the project strongly depends on sustained participation of local communities, civil society, private sector, and other stakeholders. The multi-level, multi-stakeholder governance approaches demonstrated on the project are instrumental in achieving the global environmental benefits. The project is relevant to a number of SDGs, most notably SDG 1 (No Poverty), SDG 5 (Gender Equality), SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy), SDG 13 (Climate Action), SDG 15 (Life on Land), and SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals), as outlined below in Table 3 of the Project Document.

Objectives

To support transformation towards deforestation-free coffee value chains and food systems in Oromia, SNNP and Sidama Regions

Other

Note: Disbursement data provided is cumulative and covers disbursement made by the project Agency.

Target Groups

The project is designed in line with the overall objectives of Ethiopia’s Growth and Development Plan II, in terms of which Government is committed to sustaining an inclusive and pro-poor development strategy to scale up poverty reduction and employment generation efforts, with emphasis given to engaging those sections of society that have not yet benefited from development efforts and a focus on women and youth to render the development effort more inclusive. The project helps fulfil many of Ethiopia’s policies that are both pro-growth and pro-poor, including the country’s emerging land policy, and the agriculture and rural development strategy, which promotes rural and agriculture-centred development as a mean of enhancing benefits to the people, with the woreda (district) as the principal authority overseeing rural development including agricultural training and extension institutions, and confirming the importance of enhancing women's productive capacity through involvement in production and development activities. The project’s interventions to enhance woreda (district) capacity for land use planning and agricultural (including coffee) extension, and creating business opportunities for women and youth in agricultural input supply, will help to achieve these objectives. The project will support farm households to maximize income on the existing agricultural footprint through sustainable intensification with better agroeconomic practices, as well as diversification into production of other cash crops, shifting from commodity coffee to specialty coffee, and value addition to non-timber forest products, thereby promoting rural prosperity and taking pressure off unplanned expansion into forested areas, including the valuable gene pool for C. Arabica in the coffee forests of the project regions. Promoting restoration of degraded forests and agricultural lands will help to maintain the flow of ecosystem services on which agricultural livelihoods depend, as well as safeguarding precious soil resources, globally significant biodiversity and important carbon sinks. Within each of the 22 project woredas, five kebeles will be selected for intensive support on integrated land use planning, agricultural extension support and participatory forest management activities, bringing direct benefits to an estimated 440,000 people. Indirect benefits will accrue to all the residents of the project woredas for which integrated land use plans will be developed, with capacity development interventions to enable full participation by all stakeholder groups at woreda level, and leading to better land use decisions and more sustainable land management practices, diversified income streams and higher agricultural yields.