Restoring degraded landscapes and fragile food systems in sub-Saharan Africa: synthesis of best practices

Abstract

Communities in the dryland systems of East Africa regularly suffer from the devastating impacts of climate variability and change, commonly manifested through torrential floods and recurrent droughts. More than 50% of the natural disasters recorded in East African region have occurred during the past decade affecting nearly 30 million people. For instance, in Ethiopia as recently as 2017, more than 5.6 million people were categorized as being in either crisis or emergency situations and requiring urgent humanitarian assistance (WFP, 2017). Such communities, already struggling to cope with the impacts of unpredictable weather, will face a daunting task in adapting to future climate change unless they adapt improved landscape management practices.