Sustainable Land Management in the Zambian Miombo Woodland Ecosystem

The goals of the proposed project are: (i) a reduction of carbon emissions from unsustainable slash-and-burn agricultural practices in the Miombo woodlands; (ii) the conservation of globally significant biodiversity; and (iii) improvement of the food security of the local population. In order to achieve these goals, the project will promote a shift in land management from the currently practised chitemene system to a sustainable land management system, based upon integrated ecosystem management (IEM) and conservation farming (CF) principles. The specific objectives of the project are to: (i) identify and assess the applicability of potential IEM and CF techniques; (ii) build local and national capacity in sustainable land management; (iii) facilitate a shift from chitemene to sustainable land management practices in selected pilot areas within the Miombo woodlands; and (iv) extend the experiences gained with sustainable land management to other areas with a comparable agro-ecological environment, both in Zambia and in neighbouring countries.