Investing in the sustainable management of drylands is becoming ever more urgent, given the convergence of a number of global trends: high population growth rates; increasing water scarcity, sometimes exacerbated by climate change; increasing food insecurity; out-migrations of young people; loss of cultural heritage; and decreasing habitats for wild species with detrimental effects for biodiversity. Such forces are highlighting the value of healthy drylands to the world, and their role in a secure global future.
The objective of the Dryland Sustainable Landscapes (DSL) Impact Program is to avoid, reduce, and reverse further degradation, desertification, and deforestation of land and ecosystems in drylands, through the sustainable management of production landscapes. The program will transform the management of drylands in selected regions and countries, establishing the basis for the scaling out of sustainable dryland management to regional and global levels. The program will focus specifically on three geographical dryland clusters: the Miombo and Mopane ecosystems of southern Africa; the savannas of west Africa; and the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands of Central Asia.
