Short description of the best practice

One of the best practice of the  sustainable land management is as  follows the sustainable land management model, the model includes;
 Participatory land use planning at village level:  these best practice includes, involvement of communities in land use planning.
the other best practice is also; establishment of  responsible committee  at every village;
the committee comprises of;   Forestry committee; range land management
Farm land committee;water and irrigation committee. Regular   training is given to the committee  members and are working closely with the with extension agents at village level.
the other best practice is also applied research is also given  at field level.

Location

If the location has well defined boundaries, specify its extension in hectares:

5000.0

Estimated population living in the location:

49720.0

Brief description of the natural environment within the specified location.

  The project area consists predominantly  of gently rounded hills interspersed with relatively
   flat- bottomed valleys. The altitude ranges between  2280- 2540 meter above sea sea level.
the soils are predominantly cambisols; some with luvic properties: partly associated  with lithosols( leptosols  on ridges or with fluvisols in valley floods; loamy soils  with high gravel content and low nutrient status
The climate  in the study area is semi- arid . As in  most parts of Eritrea, the rainfall pattern is sporadic and rainfall variability  is  high both temporary and spatially.  The rainfall  regime is bimodal, with the main rainy season  (summer) lasting from the end  of June until September.
the mean annul temperature 18.4 degree centigrade.|

Prevailing socio-economic conditions of those living in the location and/or nearby

The main income source of the project area is agriculture, mainly cereal crops, livestock and    irrigation, however casual work and trading  also  part of the income of the community in the project area.  |
Demographic data in the area shows  that land use pressure  in the area is very high  and holding per house hold are very small. One house hold  has an access to as  tittle  as 0.86 hectare of land for the crop cultivation. Of which an average of 60% is of poor fertility.
most of the households in the area live in poverty: in wealth ranking carried out in 1999 more than 80% of the farmers were ranked as poor  or very poor. Although off-farm activities are becoming increasingly important, the majority of the farmers depend on subsistence agriculture.

On the basis of which criteria and/or indicator(s) (not related to The Strategy) the proposed practice and corresponding technology has been considered as 'best'?

 Yes, we can say it is the best practice. |

Main problems addressed by the best practice

-Addressing land degradation;  One of the big  component of the  project is catchment    rehabilitation   such as hillside terracing, check dams  and and other  biological. The cumulative effect  of this  activities  is  to protect soil and water degradation.|Deforestation, especially in the Central highland  is in the pick point, to avert this  problem, afforestation and reforestation  in the marginal land  is one of the main challenges   addressed by the  best practice. |Based on the land tenure system of the government,the project is allocated a forest land  in the marginal land,this ensures the rehabilitation of vegetation cover of the project area.   

Outline specific land degradation problems addressed by the best practice

- Soil erosion
 -Improvement  of soil fertility
 -Land classification
- Water harvesting technologies
- Proper water utilization

Specify the objectives of the best practice

Ensuring availability of water|
Enhancement of agricultural intensification |Enhancement of agricultural diversification |Reducing uncertainty  and capacity building

Brief description of main activities, by objective

Promoting  conservation measures;
 biological and physical measures | Introducing  land use planning and  at village  level|    sensitizing  the communities on  technologies on Sustainable Land Management .

Short description and technical specifications of the technology

The  tool of the GIS system  to  apply the land use planning is one of the technologies utilized to practice the land  husbandry (crop land, range land, forest land and  other land classifications)
the Practical application of soil and water conservation measures and water conservation techniques and  water harvesting techniques is also one of the best technology  of the project. |
Arc view 9.2 and other soil and water conservation  techniques.

Was the technology developed in partnership?

Yes

List the partners:

GEF
UNDP
Royal norwegian Embassy in Eritera
Governmetof t he state of Eritrea

Specify the framework within which the technology was promoted

• Local initiative
• National initiative – government-led
• National initiative – non-government-led
• International initiative
• Programme/project-based initiative

Was the participation of local stakeholders, including CSOs, fostered in the development of the technology?

Yes

List local stakeholders involved:

 Community( Vilage)
National  Union of Eritrean Students and youth (NUESY)
Local; Government, Ministry of Agriculture
NCEW|

For the stakeholders listed above, specify their role in the design, introduction, use and maintenance of the technology, if any.

Role of the each stakeholders;
-Local government-  the  role of the local government  is to  mobilizing  and coordinating the communities  form the project design to  the project implementation.
-Communities;
The role of communities(villages) is to contribute  in project design, and implementation of the project
Ministry of agriculture  plays a great role  in  the project design, monitoring, and evaluation. The  leading role of the  project was done by  the technical expertise of the ministry  by providing the technical assistance from the grass root  to  the higher level.
The role of the National Union of Eritrean  Youth and Women  is also  in  awareness  raising  of  communities in the project area and implementation of the project  in the schools and homesteads.

Was the population living in the location and/or nearby involved in the development of the technology?

Yes

By means of what?

• Consultation
• Participatory approaches

Describe on-site impacts (the major two impacts by category)

Integrated Planning  was introduced at village level, incentive and disincentive  was  set to promote sustainable land management technics  in the project area.|
The Project is at its early stage, therefore, it  is  too early to mention of the impacts of the project|
Integrated approach of sustainable  land management is introduced, this gives rise to raise the socio -cultural level of the community at the grass root level. |

Describe the major two off-site (i.e. not occurring in the location but in the surrounding areas) impacts

land use planning  and classification techniques was disseminated to the surrounding villages.
The catchment and  individual  tree plating  techniques  is disseminated to the off- site of the project.
    Increasing of water recharging capacity of the down stream  can be also described as an impacts of the  project in the off- site projects

Impact on biodiversity and climate change

Explain the reasons:

the long run  target of the Sustainable Land Management  project (SLM) is to make  a positive impacts  on climate change mitigation measure, and therefore the project is expected to play a  big role to reverse the project area by intervention of tree planting and biological and  physical measures. |
Right now the life of the project is only one year and it too early to  evaluate about the project impact especially  on biodiversity and climate change. However; the  long run impact on climate change and biodiversity can be evaluated positively.  

Has a cost-benefit analysis been carried out?

Has a cost-benefit analysis been carried out?

No

Was the technology disseminated/introduced to other locations?

Was the technology disseminated/introduced to other locations?

No

Can you identify the three main conditions that led to the success of the presented best practice/technology?

 Capacity building of  communities of technologies of sustainable  land management.
The  whether condition of the project is favorable for tree planting both  at the catchment  and   homesteads.
The best  practice can be adapted  and replicated elsewhere in  other regions of the country with   some level of adaptation.

Replicability

In your opinion, the best practice/technology you have proposed can be replicated, although with some level of adaptation, elsewhere?

Yes

At which level?

• Local
• Sub-national
• National
• Subregional
• Regional

Related to human resources

Capacity building of creating  the enabling environment (policy, capacity, knowledge)|Capacity building  related to land use planing and land classification. |  Capacity building of  communities of technologies of sustainable  land management.

Related to financial aspects

Introduction of micro-credit  on  horticulture users  can be considered  one of the best practice in the  project.|The incentive and disincentive system set  both by the agricultural  and forest and rangeland committee is gives rise to efficiently and properly utilization of resources.| Raise of income level of the communities by involving of tree planting and irrigation practices.

Related to technical aspects

the Establishment of water use committee  at the committee, gives rise to  efficiently utilization of water resources in the project area.
| The establishment of  agricultural land  committee  at the village level also monitors and controls the efficient utilization of the agricultural land  by each individual.  | Forest and range land  Committee: these group  manages the forest and range land in harmony,incentive and disincentive is also set  by these group. These system is rewarding and penalize of  proper utilization of forest resources.