SIP: Country Program for Sustainable Land Management (ECPSLM)

The proposed Ethiopia Country Program for Sustainable Land Management (ECPSLM), one of the six GEF Country Pilot Partnerships , seeks to address land degradation through the development of a comprehensive and integrated vision for sustainable land management in Ethiopia. The objective of the proposed program is to conserve and restore landscapes of global and national ecological, economic, and social importance through the adoption of sustainable land management policies, practices, and technologies. The four initial indicative components of the program or packages of activities to be developed under the program are (1) Institutional strengthening, (2) Actions on the ground to scale-up SLM, (3) Land Monitoring System, and (4) Program Coordination and Management. •Institutional strengthening: The objective of this component is to contribute to the creation of an enabling environment through the strengthening of the institutional capacity of the Government of Ethiopia, with particular, but not exclusive, focus on (a) land use planning and administration, and (b) capacity building for integrated and sustainable land management. •Actions on the ground to scale-up SLM: This component is aimed at contributing to scale up sustainable land management through the provision of financial and technical support to implement on a wider scale, with on-the-ground results, appropriate best practices and technologies selected by the intended beneficiaries. •Land Monitoring System: This component would focus on developing a single point of reference for information for monitoring terrestrial ecosystem health to guide policy makers, resource managers, local communities, and other stakeholders. •Program Coordination and Management: This component would focus on providing the organization framework to support coordination and implementation of the sustainable land management program, including monitoring and evaluating program performance and results. The impact of the above interventions is expected to reach a scale and level of penetration to turn around the present downward spiral of land degradation, restore eroded landscapes, raise crop yields, and relieve pressure on ecological systems.