[SAHEL-JIRCAS] Development of Technical Guides to Combat Desertification in the Sahel Region

#combat desertification #sahel #technial manuals

Project Summary

✔ KEY POINT

Development of eight useful manuals to combat desertification in the Sahel Region

 

The international community has long recognised that land degradation and desertification is a major economic, social and environmental problem of utmost concern for many countries in all regions of the world. In Japan, the issue on desertification has been broadly acknowledged after the extreme drought of early 1980s in the Sahel, hence a committee on agriculture and rural development in Africa was established in Japan in 1984. Based on the committee report, Japan Green Resources Agency (J-Green) decided to tackle the desertification problem in Africa and started the survey on techniques to combat desertification with support from the Government of Japan. From 1996 to 2000, J-Green developed the eight technical guides in combating desertification based on the results of the pilot studies and from experience in Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso. In 2008, the project of the Overseas Department of J-Green was succeeded to Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS).

The project developed the following eight manuals in French, and compiled as “Technical Guides to Combat Desertification in the Sahel Region”. The manual focused on the following topics: 1) project planning, 2) formulation and management of community groups, 3) Water resource development, 4) Water resource utilisation, 5) agricultural land conservation, 6) agriculture, 7) livestock farming and 8) agroforestry.

For more information, check the manuals/reports

The technical manuals developed by JIRCAS are available from the links below. Concepts therein may be applied to other countries in arid or semi-arid areas.

・[ENG] 1 Technical Guide: Project Planning to Combat Desertification
・[ENG] 2 Technical Guide: Promoting Organization of Local People
・[ENG] 5 Technical Guide: Agricultural Land Conservation
・[FR] 1 Guide technique de l’établissement de projets des mesures de lutte contre la désertification
・[FR] 2 Guide technique de la formation d’organisations d’habitants
・[FR] 3 Guide technique de développement des ressources en eau
・[FR] 4 Guide technique de l’utilisation des ressources en eau
・[FR] 5 Guide technique de la conservation des terres agricoles
・[FR] 6 Guide technique de l’agriculture
・[FR] 7 Guide technique de l’élevage
・[FR] 8 Guide technique du boisement

Source: https://www.jircas.go.jp/ja/publication/green/28, https://www.jircas.go.jp/ja/publication/green/32