Program Summary

The proposed 5-year Multi-Country Oasis Landscape Management Program will support a set of sustainable and climate resilient activities to restore and improve oasis ecosystem services. The program will complement existing initiatives on oasis development and capitalize on lessons learned from recent promising projects towards an effort to help targeted countries to achieve their own goals on forest areas and terrestrial ecosystems. Key program beneficiaries of the technical assistance component of the program will be decision-makers at the local, national and regional levels, development partners, and representatives of national and provincial institutions. Beneficiaries of co-financing initiatives will be poor and vulnerable households of oasis communities, CSOs and Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), the private sector, producers’ groups, grass-roots associations, and small and medium entrepreneurs.

Challenge

Oasis landscapes play a crucial role in regulating the climate by producing oxygen and absorbing CO2, and provide a wide range of valuable ecosystem services, regulating local water cycles and protecting land against desertification, floods and soil erosion. These landscapes are, however, increasingly endangered by climate change, agricultural expansion, unsustainable agriculture practices, overexploitation and rapid decline of water resources, loss of biodiversity, knowledge gaps, weak planning processes for landscape management, weak institutional capacities to implement landscape management, and low participation / inclusion of stakeholders. By investing in integrated approaches for restoration that improve soil fertility and agricultural productivity, and giving special attention to the conservation and valorization of oases products, the program will contribute to the rehabilitation and the sustainability of oasis landscapes.

Approach

The program will adopt an integrated landscape approach and implement the following key analytical activities:

1. North Africa Oasis Knowledge Platform (OKP): Support the establishment and maintenance of an Oasis Knowledge Platform (OKP) that will foster synergies between technical and financial partners and representatives of local communities, and generate and disseminate knowledge on a number of issues.
2. Capacity Building:  Support building North African countries’ capacities to help revive and promote the multifunctionality of oasis territories, preserve and reinforce their historical role as pivotal space linking together urban, steppe and agricultural areas.
3. Convening and coordination: Establish and strengthen existing networks between national institutions and local level community organizations (including the private sector) to encourage management and sharing of knowledge and effective and strategic communication activities on key issues related to sustainable oasis management and their associated livelihoods. 

For Proposed RE Grants: The objective is to support sustainable investment in oasis landscapes, firstly to restore their environmental and social functions and services, and secondly to increase the access of their products to domestic, national and international markets through approaches aimed at the development of productive alliances and value chains.

[Expected] Results

The program will provide a more holistic and comprehensive approach for sustainable and integrated management of oasis landscapes and is expected to contribute to increasing sustainable management areas, land area under restoration, the share of land-users adopting new practices, and the number of landscapes under integrated and innovate management.