Reversing environmental decline: Lessons from African communities

In rural Africa, where livelihoods are often tied directly to the land, environmental degradation poses a critical threat to both ecosystems and people's well-being. A new study co-authored by researchers at Stanford University and the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD) analyzes how various African communities have attempted to reverse this trend and offers valuable insights into what works. The study, published Oct. 30 in Sustainability Science, emphasizes that long-term coalitions among local communities, governments, and organizations are essential to foster transitions to sustainability.

"Every place is different and one should avoid a 'one size fits all approach' to environmental policy, but we should also learn from past experiences to identify conditions that lead to success in turning around environmental degradation," said study co-author Eric Lambin, the George and Setsuko Ishiyama Provostial Professor in the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability and senior fellow at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment.

Reversing degradation

For decades, many African communities have faced the dual challenge of addressing environmental degradation while improving people's livelihoods. As land becomes less productive due to low soil fertilization, deforestation, or climate change, the pressure on these communities intensifies. Lambin and study co-author Camille Jahel of CIRAD point out that, in many cases, this situation is inextricably linked to a history of colonialism in which authorities denied people's rights to natural resources and broadcasted a narrative of overexploitation of natural resources. This led to top-down restoration efforts with often limited success, according to the researchers.

More recently, in many areas, new efforts have been made to reverse these negative trends, often with support from governments, NGOs, or international organizations. However, results have been mixed, with some initiatives leading to significant improvements, while others fell short.

After examining 17 cases representing various initiatives to reverse land degradation across 13 African countries, the researchers found that successful interventions typically share a few key characteristics. First and foremost, they often involve strong social arrangements between actors, supported by well-functioning institutions. In cases like the Shinyanga region of Tanzania, where 90% of the population was involved in reforestation efforts, the results were impressive. The region saw the restoration of 300,000 to 500,000 hectares, or about 1,100 to 1,900 square miles, of woodland, which enhanced livelihoods through the provision of resources like wood for fuel.

Another critical factor is the alignment of incentives with environmental goals. In Burkina Faso, for example, farmers began planting cashew trees, driven by the opportunity to sell their produce in international markets. This not only provided a new income stream but also helped to combat desertification as more trees were planted. These cases highlight the importance of ensuring that environmental restoration efforts also address the economic and social needs of communities.

"Incentives were mostly economic in nature, but some also concerned security of access to land or improved provision of ecosystem services following restoration of natural resources," said Jahel, a research fellow at CIRAD. Jahel was funded by the Stanford France-Stanford Center for Interdisciplinary Studies for a collaborative research project with the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment while doing the research.

Supporting restoration

In addition to local coalitions, the study emphasizes the importance of external support, particularly in the form of resources and technical assistance. In many successful cases, such as in Niger and Burkina Faso, NGOs and government agencies provided the necessary tools, knowledge, and financial backing to get projects off the ground. This external support was often vital in the early stages of interventions, reducing the risk associated with the adoption of new practices in a context of resource scarcity and climate variability.

However, the study also cautions that external support needs to be carefully managed. In some cases, top-down approaches that didn't fully engage local communities led to limited success or even failure. For example, in Zambia's Kafue Flats, an intervention aimed at restoring wildlife populations ultimately failed partly because the new governance structures imposed by external actors were not accepted by the local community. This underscores the need for external agencies to work closely with local stakeholders and respect existing social and governance systems.

Lambin and Jahel emphasize the need to maintain momentum over the long term. Some of the interventions they studied showed positive results initially, only to falter as external funding dried up or local interest waned. The researchers highlight the importance of building long-term resilience into these projects, ensuring that local communities can continue to manage and sustain the improvements without ongoing external support. In Namibia, for example, some community organizations for wildlife management, known as conservancies, are now generating enough profit to sustain their activity over time.

By providing general lessons drawn from past experiences in Africa, this study can help improve the design, management, and monitoring of projects aimed at reversing land degradation and adoption of sustainable land use practices.

"It is possible to turn the tide on environmental decline," Lambin said. "The key lies in creating long-term interventions that are locally driven [and] integrate poverty-related concerns, supported by strong governance structures and based on coalitions of actors."