A Global Land Outlook (GLO) study was just released to government leaders in Southern Africa and is hoped to pave the way for better management of degrading land and other resources such as water and energy in the SADC region.
Conducted for the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), the report was published earlier this year by SRK Consulting, a firm with multi-disciplinary expertise in environmental issues. The UNCCD appointed SRK partner and environmental consultant Darryll Kilian to lead the study, entitled the Regional Thematic Report for Southern Africa: Leveraging the Land, Water and Energy
Nexus in SADC.
“This GLO considered the complex factors around land degradation in Southern Africa, and the region’s responses,” said Kilian. “We were also asked to highlight the cross sectoral linkages of land-water-energy (LWE) systems or nexus points that can be used to leverage progress towards achieving land degradation neutrality (LDN).”
Understanding the vision for SADC
To deliver these insights in a practical format that engaged with SADC member countries’ institutions and commitments, the study team examined a vast range
of documentation on policies and conventions. These ranged from desertification and biodiversity to climate change, and covered global, regional and national
protocols.
“We needed a detailed understanding of the vision and plans for the region, to map out the landscape of where it was currently and where it wanted to get to,” Kilian said. “We also needed to reflect what progress was being made towards these goals, so referred back to documents like the SADC Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan 2020-2030 (RISDP), which has a 10-year roadmap.”
This allowed land degradation neutrality opportunities to be further explored, he said, including the harnessing of water, renewable energy and land.
“We worked closely with a reference committee headed by the UNCCD Secretariat, which included the SADC Secretariat,” he said. “In addition to providing guidance, this group was able to offer information that augmented our other data platforms.”
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