The Program will support the following activities: Expand investment in sustainable land and water management technologies This would help communities adapt production systems to climate variability and change, generate income and livelihoods, and secure global public goods such as retention of greenhouse gases, nitrogen fixation, groundwater recharge, and biodiversity, and reduce impacts from erosion, drought and flooding. Improve land use planning, such as at watershed scale (e.g., Nigeria) or local levels (e.g., grazing reserves, conservation areas, etc.). This would help manage trade-offs that occur between multiple uses such as demand for rich floodplains for grazing or crops, or woodlands’ value for fuelwood versus watershed function and protected areas. Improve and apply the information base: climate and water monitoring network improvements, ICT innovations, institutional cooperation within and across countries, and evidence-based policy development.

Sahelian Africa faces a persistent problem of variability in rainfall, which is the major driver of vulnerability in the region. Populations in the Sahel are among the poorest and most vulnerable to climatic variability and land degradation. They depend heavily on healthy ecosystems for rainfed agriculture, fisheries, and livestock management to sustain their livelihoods. These constitute the primary sectors of employment in the region and they generate at least 40 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in most of the countries. Furthermore, ecosystem services provide much needed livelihood products, such as fuelwood and bushmeat, among others. Unfortunately, increasing population pressures on food, fodder, and fuelwood in a vulnerable environment have deteriorating impacts on natural resources, notably vegetation cover. Climate variability along with frequent droughts and poorly managed land and water resources (surface and underground) have caused rivers and lakes to dry up and contribute to increased soil erosion.