Nature-based solutions (NbS) have been used in Sub-Saharan Africa for millennia. Traditional soil conservation techniques in the Ethiopian highlands date back to the Axumite Kingdom of (400 BCE to 800 CE). The communities have exceled in the art of NbS techniques that prevent soil erosion, preserve biodiversity, promote reforestation and water percolation, and sustainably manage the environment (Ciampalini R et al. 2011; Sulas 2009). In Tanzania, farmers have for long practiced an agro-silvopastoral system, Ngitiri, where communities set aside significant areas to regenerate naturally and to conserve pasture for use in dry seasons (Otsyina et al. undated; Kamwenda 2002). At the household level, hundreds of smallholder farmers in East Africa owning less than a hectare of land have transformed their lives and attained food self-sufficiency and created decent employment by adopting regenerative agriculture integrated with livestock husbandry.

Agriculture employs 65–70% of the African workforce, supports the livelihoods of 90% of Africa’s population, and contributes 15% of total GDP (range 3–50%) (OECD/FAO 20 16). Given the increasing population and climate change, unsustainable farming practices have taken root such as excessive tillage, complete removal of crop residues, overstocking, encroaching on forests, and biomass burning. The East African region loses on average between 40 and 200 tons of topsoil per hectare annually. Land degradation, soil erosion, nutrient depletion, and chronic moisture stress are challenging the sustainability of the conventional crop and livestock production systems as extreme weather events exacerbate these conditions, undermining the resilience of farmers and the land.

What keeps me going

Since 2012, my work with farmers across East Africa has focused on advocating NbS on farms and landscapes. These NbS include conservation agriculture (CA), permaculture, agroforestry, food forests, farmer-managed natural regeneration and landscape restoration. Most of these interventions are attaining the five levels of ecological organization and ecosystem functions. Since 2016, nearly 40,000 smallholder farmers in Eastern Africa have been practicing CA with agroforestry, restoring over 25,000 ha and improving food production (ACT, 2024).  For example, in Benishangul Gumuze region, Ethiopia, farmers have reduced soil erosion through incorporating agroforestry, bamboo plantation, CA, and water and soil conservation, which contribute to protecting Ethiopia’s Great Renaissance Dam from siltation. In east Gojam, farmers have restored degraded land through watershed approaches embedding CA within the landscape. In Tanzania, farmers using NbS at the catchment of the Julius Nyerere Hydropower Station have helped reduce silting of the dam. The highlands of Kenya are the main source of water for the Seven Forks Dam that generates hydro power for the country. Farmers in Mt Kenya, Kitui (a semi-arid area), and Machakos counties practicing NbS help recharge the dam.

Payments for Ecosystem Services

Payments for Ecosystem Services (P4ES) is a basket of arrangements through which beneficiaries of environmental services—watershed protection, forest conservation, carbon sequestration, landscape beauty—incentivize and reward those whose lands provide these services with subsidies or market payments. Establishing and enforcing P4ES provides multiple benefits when service providers are linked with markets.

Upscaling NbS

Scaling up NbS to attain their ecological organization and ecological functions has positive outcomes such as providing provisioning services; regulating services, specifically climate regulation and pollination; supporting services (nutrient recycling and oxygen production); and cultural services (recreational opportunities, spiritual and aesthetic values and cultural heritage).

Hence, I propose to upscale NbS in the region through the following approaches:

• Building up on indigenous NbS practices.

• Employing geospatial technology and remote sensing to provide evidence for scaling up and share knowledge and information on the importance of NbS to encourage social and behavioural change.

• Empowering farmers to organize into legal entities for a stronger voice in negotiations, and to enhance working with the private sector. 

• Developing public–private partnership models to advance conservation at landscape level.

• Developing a financing model for the multiple environmental services, and supporting farmers with measurements, reporting and verifications (MRVs) to link them with global buyers. 

• Advocating supportive policies and infrastructural facilities for use by farming families.

These approaches can be achieved with the collaboration and cooperation of all stakeholders: academia, research, private sector, financiers, government, donors and communities. They will catalyze creation of green jobs for Africa’s youth along different ES, restore degraded lands, and help produce more food. 

This is a call to action to develop a market-based conservation system for Africa via nature-based agriculture. 

References

African Conservation Tillage Network, 2024. Annual report (available upon request)

Ciampalini R, Paolo B, Ferrari G, Borselli  L, Fallain S. 2012. Soil erosion induced by land use changes as determined by plough makrs and field evidence  in the Aksum area (Ethiopia). Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 146(1):1972–208. Available: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2011.11.006

Kamwenda GJ. 2002. Ngitili agrosilvopastoral systems in the United Republic of Tanzania. Available http://www.globalrestorationnetwork.org/uploads/files/CaseStudyAttachments/95_ngitili---agrosilvipastoral-system.pdf

OECD/FAO. 2016. Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa: Prospects and challenges for the next decade. In Chapter 2, OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2016-2025. Available https://openknowledge.fao.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/b33cbb8d-eb27-487c-acab-6e7a705b3ac9/content

Otsyina RM, Essai I, Asenga D. undated. Traditional grassland and fodder management systems in Tanzania and potential for improvement. Available: https://uknowledge.uky.edu

Sulas F, Madella M, French C. 2009. State Formation and Water Resources Management in the Horn of Africa: The Aksumite Kingdom of the Northern Ethiopian Highlands. World Archaeology Vol. 41, No. 1, The Archaeology of Water (Mar., 2009), pp. 2–15.

The blog image was published on Flickr. Original image by CIAT. The copyright holder has published this content under the following license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/