Soil and Water Conservation Strategies in Cape Verde (Cabo Verde inPortuguese) and Their Impacts on Livelihoods: An Overview from theRibeira Seca Watershed

Land

卷:4

António D. Ferreira¹  Anabela Varela²  António Querido³  Samuel Gomes⁴  Jacques Tavares⁴  Isaurinda Baptista⁴  Eduardo A. Reis⁴  Coen Ritsema⁵  Luuk Fleskens⁵ 

[1] CERNAS, Escola Superior Agrária de Coimbra, Bencanta, P-3040-316 Coimbra, Portugal;

[2] Direcção geral de Agricultura e Desenvolvimento Rural (DGADR/DSER), CP 115, 7600 Praia, Cape Verde;

[3] Environment, Energy & Natural Disaster Prevention Unit, Office of United Nations, PO Box 62, 7600 Praia, Cape Verde;

[4] Instituto Nacional de Investigação e Desenvolvimento Agrário (INIDA), CP 84, 7600 Praia, Cape Verde;

[5] Soil Physics and Land Management group, Wageningen University (WUR), 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands;

关键词: land degradation;    desertification;    sustainable land management (SLM);    livelihoods;    poverty;    governance;    Cape Verde;   

DOI  :  10.3390/land4010022

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Severe land degradation has strongly affected both people’s livelihoodand the environment in Cape Verde (Cabo Verde in Portuguese), a naturalresource poor country. Despite the enormous investment in soil and waterconservation measures (SWC or SLM), which are visible throughout thelandscape, and the recognition of their benefits, their biophysical andsocioeconomic impacts have been poorly assessed and scientificallydocumented. This paper contributes to filling this gap, by bringingtogether insights from literature and policy review, field survey andparticipatory assessment in the Ribeira Seca Watershed through aconcerted approach devised by the DESIRE project (the “Desireapproach”). Specifically, we analyze government strategies towardsbuilding resilience against the harsh conditions, analyze the state ofland degradation and its drivers, survey and map the existing SWCmeasures, and assess their effectiveness against land degradation, oncrop yield and people’s livelihood. We infer that the relative successof Cape Verde in tackling desertification and rural poverty owes to anintegrated governance strategy that comprises raising awareness,institutional framework development, financial resource allocation,capacity building, and active participation of rural communities. Werecommend that specific, scientific-based monitoring and assessmentstudies be carried out on the biophysical and socioeconomic impact ofSLM and that the “Desire approach” be scaled-up to other watersheds inthe country.

【 授权许可】

Unknown