E.C.O. T.E.R.R.A.: Empowerment of Communities and Organizations Transforming Economies towards Restoration of Rural Areas
Zimbabwe
Status
ImplementationAid type
Project-type interventionsZimbabwe
Location
-
€ 3,600,000
Committed
Committed
€ 0
Used
Used
Description
In Zimbabwe, climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme events, such as droughts and floods, causing desertification and land degradation, thereby reducing the productivity of agricultural and livestock activities, which account for 15 percent of GDP and the major source of livelihood of male and female small-scale farmers. The poor climate resilience of the agro-zootenical practices currently adopted by the peasant population results in the search for new fertile land to devote to agriculture, with further deforestation and soil degradation, competition over land use among the agricultural and livestock activities themselves, degradation of animal and human health, conflict with wildlife, and degradation of already fragile biodiversity and ecosystems. Land deforested in this way loses its ability to absorb CO2 and mitigate climate change, inducing a downward spiral, most evident in arid and semi-arid assisted areas in the Chiredzi and Bikita districts. In these areas, land is communal, i.e., assigned for management by national authorities to local authorities and by them to communities: the limited technical and financial capacity of public actors to implement national environmental policies at local and community levels, such as the Land Degradation Neutrality Policy or the Climate Change Response Strategy, to plan for sustainable land use over the medium to long term, and to involve civil society inclusively in environmental governance, risks exacerbating the aforementioned conflicts between communities and communities and between communities and authorities. In the assisted areas, the E.C.O. T.E.R.R.A. project's medium-term goal is to promote sustainable economic growth of agro-sylvo-pastoralist supply chains of communities in Chiredzi and Bikita, by acting on three integrated components: - promoting the adoption of climate smart production practices, sustainably integrating solarized irrigation, goat farming and agroforestry, where women play a predominant and essential role - by supporting the implementation of environmental and agroforestry best practices, involving communities and civic committees dedicated to the environment and risk reduction in social forestry, assisted natural regeneration, and forest fire prevention and control - facilitating the involvement of community committee members, particularly women and youth, and public and private actors in the joint development of land use plans for more sustainable land use and good environmental governance. In this way, E.C.O. T.E.R.R.A. intends to contribute in the long term to progressively improve the quality of degraded land and soils in the semi-arid community areas of Zimbabwe, in line with national and international environmental policies, particularly related to OSS15.3 (combating desertification), 2.4 (adaptive capacity and agricultural sustainability) and 2.3 (agricultural productivity and income). In this challenge, E.C.O. T.E.R.R.A. envisages a partnership of international and local actors, public and private, integrating the unique expertise of each organization in Zimbabwe, fueling the exchange of best practices and mutual capacity building: CESVI in sustainable agriculture and irrigation, COSV in goat farming, SAFIRE as a local CSO specializing in community-based land restoration, and the National Forestry Commission, a parastatal body under the Ministry of Environment, which will incorporate this project into its AFR100 program in response to the Bonn Challenge and Zimbabwe's participation in the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification and Drought (UNCCD).
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| Year | Committed | Used |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | € 3,600,000 | € 0 |
Agency
| Type | Name | Channel code |
|---|---|---|
| Government | AICS - Italian Agency for Cooperation and Development | 11000 |
Channel reported
| Type | Name | Channel code |
|---|---|---|
| National NGO | CESVI FONDAZIONE ONLUS | 22000 |
Project data
Sectors
Policy markers
SDGs
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