Overview and objectives

Summary:

Following approval by the 56th Council of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the Government of South Africa, Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries, and IUCN will implement the…

Following approval by the 56th Council of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the Government of South Africa, Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries, and IUCN will implement the Mainstreaming Sustainable Land Management (SLM) for Large-Scale Impact in the Grazing Lands of Limpopo and Northern Cape provinces in South Africa project. This project is part of the GEF 7 impact programme on Sustainable Forest Management, more specifically the programme on Sustainable Drylands Management. It aims to scale-up and mainstream sustainable land management for large-scale impact in the grazing lands of the target sites. The project’s major objectives are:
• Integrated SLM responses (including restoration and drought resilience actions) are implemented in targeted landscapes, based on improved assessments and diagnosis
• Government and customary land management institutions, are strengthened to equitably coordinate natural resource management and improve response to recurrent drought emergencies
• Communities financially benefit from investments from the private sector for sustainably produced commodities
• Sustainable land management is mainstreamed at the local, national and regional level

The project was approved at GEF in September 2021 and will run for five years

Objective:

The project has four outcomes which will contribute to the reduction of land degradation through improved SLM and strengthen, through mainstreaming, inclusive and equitable decision making towards…

The project has four outcomes which will contribute to the reduction of land degradation through improved SLM and strengthen, through mainstreaming, inclusive and equitable decision making towards scaling up SLM in target areas in Limpopo and Northern Cape. Outcome 1 will develop a platform by which the scale up of improved information management and knowledge and capacity development, as it pertains to SLM, can be implemented at a larger scale. Outputs will support the development of regionally specific capacity in SLM. Outcome 2 will improve the transparency of local approaches and align objectives of government, communal governance structures and land users through the development of a variety of formalised mechanisms. Mechanisms include community level implementation plans, formalisation of community level Rangeland/Biodiversity Stewardship Agreements and local Sustainable Land Management Plans that facilitate landscape level scale up of activities conducted at target sites and support the implementation of improved SLM on key rangelands in the regions. Outcome 3 will provide markets and finance for scale up through a three-part approach. Part one will be to invest project funding into community validated priority value chains that will enable improved SLM and allow for the development and additional penetration of communities in SLM related value chains. Part one will be to validate a suite of integrated innovative finance solutions towards establishment into the two landscapes. Part two will be to make investments into validated priority value chains through targeted investment and establishment of mechanism that incentivises ongoing SLM through market access and unlocking opportunities towards developing financial capacity and partnerships. Part three will be to provide opportunities for microfinance through small grants programmes and financial capacity training and business case development towards submitting investment proposals to established financial Output 4 will inform SLM related national policies and processes based on the results and best practices from the implementation of the project actions under the first, second and third components. Component 4 supports dialogue with key stakeholder groups at national and local levels to develop