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The goal of bush control is savanna ecosystem rehabilitation, fostering biodiversity and balanced habitats with woody species and grasses. Bush value chains have emerged as a solution, turning a rehabilitation byproduct into an economic opportunity, prioritizing landscape diversity and large tree preservation to enhance natural controls.

Opportunities for value addition range from low-tech, labor-intensive to high-tech, capital-intensive products. The choice depends on factors like available resources, land rights, location, capital, expertise, market access, and local conditions.

The heart of value addition is the selection of bush control or harvesting methods. This pivotal decision marks the start of potential value chains. Multiple methods exist, varying in efficiency, effectiveness, and environmental sustainability, including large-scale mechanical control, heavily mechanized control, manual and semi-mechanized control, and chemical control.

Namibia prioritizes addressing bush encroachment, driven by the emergence of bush value chains. Localized farm-level measures yielded mixed results, necessitating a national framework: the National Strategy on the Sustainable Management of Bush Resources (2022-2027). This strategy aims to optimize bush resource utilization, safeguard sustainability, and benefit all Namibians while enhancing environmental outcomes.

Governance involves various sectors. Environmental and forestry sectors focus on land rehabilitation, sustainability, and management. Industrialization and trade support value chains. Agriculture seeks sustainable rangeland management to prevent encroachment.

Due to the cross-sectoral nature, a National Coordinating Body is crucial for collaboration, knowledge exchange, adaptive management, and informed decision-making.

The ACCES project developed a holistic and participatory approach through the implementation of adaptation measures in the 3 pilot zones. This approach takes into account the environmental, societal, economic and pedoclimatic dimensions of Burundi.

The successive stages of implementation have consisted of establishing a list of adaptation measures that can respond to climatic stimuli. These measures have been categorized according to their typology: grey measures, green measures, capacity building, action research, policy framework. The project prioritized capacity building measures and green measures for feasibility and sustainability issues. The project then conducted participatory planning workshops in each of the pilot areas to assess their acceptability in consultation with the population. The result was a set of consensual and specific CCA measures for each of the zones. To ensure quality and sustainability, a follow-up technical committee was established locally (CTS-L). This committee is made up of people from the local administration, farmers leaders, association leaders, who are in charge of monitoring and sustaining the measures.

To rehabilitate, reconstruct and redesign drinking water systems damaged by Tropical Storm Stan in 2005, the Tacaná project facilitated communications, damage assessment and the organisation of donor coordination in the immediate aftermath of the disaster. In conjunction with municipalities and governmental authorities, a reconstruction plan for the Department of San Marcos was developed. WANI coordinated the rehabilitation and reconstruction of 72 drinking water systems and four small irrigation systems.

A total of 77 communities with approximately 34,092 inhabitants comprising 6,616 families took part in water supply system studies. Disaster preparedness plans and mechanisms were developed alongside the drinking water systems reconstruction. 

Small business enterprise: In Guatemala, WANI was instrumental in supporting the emergence of a youth-run cooperative enterprise called ‘Jóvenes en la Missión’ (Youth in Mission, JEM). JEM began as a Catholic environmental education initiative run by a group of young volunteers promoting sustainable water use and watershed restoration.

Microwatershed model: The Tacaná project developed a water planning and community management model based on:

• Broad community participation and recognition of Microwatersheds as a planning unit.
• The involvement of local political authorities in environmental management,
• Building community capacity in IWRM, and
• Forging strategic collaborations with government and nongovernmental organisations.

The Microwatershed model is inclusive, highly participatory and based on strategic collaborations. In Guatemala, Microwatershed councils encompass 10 to 20 communities who share water resources in the watersheds of tributary streams. The councils are organized to coordinate resource management and, critically, how this can be integrated with community development. The Microwatershed councils join each other together and therefore expand their actions to include watershed management at different scales.

Unregulated land use change in the upper watershed had been especially damaging on steep hillsides and deforestation reduced the capacity of the soils to retain water. The resulting erosion strongly increased the risk of floods and mudslides. WANI and partners supported the design of numerous community pilot projects which addressed water, soil and environmental conservation. Women made up 90% of these groups, empowering them to take a more proactive role in the development of their communities. The pilot projects were the basis for bringing people together to organize themselves into micro-watershed committees. Examples include:

• Forest nurseries for reforestation and promotion of agroforestry on farms;

• Facilitating development and networking of community enterprises and cooperatives working in, for example, beekeeping, fish farming, forest butterfly farm ecotourism;

• Community gardens, organic farming and soil conservation projects;

• Construction of septic systems to improve sanitation and raise water quality in the Suchiate River;

• Protection of springs for domestic water supply and installation of piped distribution;
• Establishment of a demonstration and training centre in Chiapas for integrated management of watersheds.

Mobilisation was achieved through economic valuation of water resources, provision of locally available information and capacity building for learning and leadership.

• The project’s Living Water Partnership established a Payment for Ecosystem Services scheme in Guatemala to protect and restore the Tacaná Watersheds’ natural resources, focussing primarily on water. 
• WANI facilitated grassroots mobilisation in Mexico through the establishment of the ‘virtual water resource libraries’ in the town halls of five municipalities. These provided access to up-to-date information and knowledge on water resources and the environment in the region. 
• Learning from the pilot projects under WANI has been incorporated into the University of San Carlos’s academic studies through 10-month internships. These programmes are creating a critical mass of professionals trained in WANI concepts, approaches and practice who will eventually go into professional positions in different institutions and organizations active in the area, creating an influential feedback loop.

Eco-restoration through agro-forestry on forest fringes and slopes, and plantations on bunds was implemented as livelihood diversification option. Bund-plantations and agro-forestry enhance soil fertility, reduce forest fragmentation, increase soil moisture and decrease soil erosion. In addition, they ensure the provision of resources like wood and fruits, to add to the incomes of farmers in future. Tree based options are supposedly much more robust and long-lasting than crop based options for climate change adaptation, though their impacts can only be assessed in long term.

Care was taken in selecting the tree species as it was important to preserve the genetic pool of native tree species while avoiding the introduction of any alien species not conducive to the local environment. This also contributes to water conservation, as native tree species would not absorb that much water from the soil.

The Corridor ecosystem has been well-studied and over 200,000 geo-referenced data points are available to help establish spatial management plans. Fisher communities have participated in monitoring resources in the past and currently are generating data on their catch. This in combination with other data from the literature, and from interviews and mapping processes that fishermen participate in, help integrate a wealth of traditional knowledge and scientific information to produce realistic management proposals. Even when presented with complex analyses of this data resulting from computer models such as INVEST and ZONATION, fishers have shown confidence in the information presented to them and they validate it. By creating a decision-making process that uses evidence from these various sources that all stakeholders believe in, we are building a science-based decision making process. We plan to work with stakeholders to define the best indicators for tracking the impacts of management, and then design a participatory process for monitoring these, developing a common, science-based language for measuring the effectiveness of the program. The program is building a digital platform that will serve to communicate the advances.