Growing greener: Restoration and sustainable use of agro-pastoralist systems in open arid landscapes across Southern Africa - scoping mission

The project locations are characterised by a vicious cycle of degrading resources driven by unsustainable agro-pastoral land uses to compensate for deteriorating incomes and livelihoods. The major transformation this project seeks to achieve is to catalyse nature-based land use and market supported systems that align socio-economic development with restoration of semi-arid landscapes and biodiversity thereby combatting desertification at community, national and regional level. It builds on proven good agro-pastoralist practices and traditional knoweldge systems to implement innovative, community-based conservation approaches that drive systemic behavioural change towards resilience and sustainable use of natural resources. Key to transformation is a phased rollout approach to embed learning and ensure effective scale up as it fosters cross-country learning.