Feasibility study of the project Restoration of forests and landscapes in the Sahel Burkina Faso, Niger
AGRICULTURE 
ENVIRONMENT 
FORESTRY 
TRANSVERSAL
Services: Diagnostics and feasibility studies
Countries: Burkina Faso, Niger
Dates of intervention: 2016/10 - 2016/12
Amount executed: 27 528 €
Total amount of the service: 27 528 €
Main backer: Fonds français pour l’environnement mondial - Client
Main beneficiary: Organisation des Nations Unies pour l’alimentation et l’agriculture
Support provider: SalvaTerra
Experts: Olivier BOUYER
Certificate of satisfactory executionNote d'engagement de projet: Restauration des forêts et des paysages et gestion durable des terres au Sahel
Context of the service
The aim of the project is to contribute to Forest and Landscape Restoration (FLR) and Sustainable Land Management (SLM) in order to sustainably provide multiple social, economic and environmental goods and services, and thus achieve the goal of land degradation neutrality by 2030.
The project has two main components:
- Local actions implemented in an innovative and decentralized way with rural municipalities (three in Burkina Faso and three in Niger) as part of the Great Green Wall Initiative in the Sahel and Sahara,
- Sub-regional actions to support the deployment of FLR/TDM: planning, biophysical and socio-economic assessment of impacts, sub-regional monitoring and evaluation, identification of innovative financing solutions.
The project had been presented by FAO to the FFEM Secretariat and the FFEM Scientific Committee, which had made many comments, both on the objectives of the project and its set-up.
Services provided
Based on a very thorough literature review, visits to the pilot areas (around Tahoua in Niger, around Dori and Fada in Burkina Faso) and numerous interviews with local and international stakeholders, the study focused on the following topics, which validated the project:
- PRIORITIES: Rebalance the planned project in favor of more field actions than advocacy / capitalization.
- ZONES: Propose criteria specific to the two countries in order to select the pilot Municipalities.
- ASSEMBLY: Clarify roles and responsibilities between international, sub-regional and local stakeholders.
- BENEFICIARIES: Better identify local stakeholders (farmers, pastoralists, etc.) and their needs.
- ACTIONS: Concretely detail land recovery actions and accompanying actions.
- FINANCING: Describe the disbursement modalities, via municipal budgets.
Summary of the service
Feasibility study of the project Restoration of forests and landscapes in the Sahel (€8 million): In-depth literature review; Visits and interviews in the pilot areas (around Tahoua in Niger, around Dori and Fada in Burkina Faso); Revision of the project commitment note (rebalancing in favour of benefits of field actions, selection criteria for pilot municipalities, clarification of roles and responsibilities between stakeholders, details of recovery actions, fiduciary modalities).