Project Objectives

About The Project

The project consists of two main components:

1. At the regional and global level, support is provided by a Global Support Unit (GSU) created under the Portfolio Project to facilitate project coordination, preparation and implementation.
   
   
2. At the national level countries are developing their own Medium-Sized Project (MSP) for national execution with technical assistance from the UNDP Regional Technical Support Unit in Panama and the Caribbean Environmental Health Institute.

Overall Objectives

The project has two main objectives:

• To undertake national-level activities to strengthen capacity development and mainstreaming to enhance the integration of sustainable land management into national development strategies and policies;
• To improve the quality of project design, implementation, outputs and impact; and ensure broad-based political and participatory support for the process.

With a focus on :

• Cost-effective and timely delivery of GEF resources to LDCs and SIDS
• Enhancement of individual and institutional capacities for SLM at the national level
• Systemic capacity building and mainstreaming of SLM principles into development planning
• Enhanced technical support

Country-Specific Objectives

At the national level the Portfolio Project seeks to mitigate the causes and negative impacts of land degradation on ecosystem integrity, stability, functions and services, through Sustainable Land Management (SLM), as a contribution to improve people’s livelihoods and economic well being.

There are four major objectives of the Portfolio Projects at country level:

1. Completion of National Action Programmes

• Elaboration, validation and adoption of the NAP/SLM, including country analysis, problem analysis, prioritization of actions.
  
• Publication, dissemination including translation.
  

• Stocktaking of the land degradation situation;
  
• Development of indicators;
• Participation by stakeholder groups in assessments and decision making;
  
• Assessment of capacity development needs for SLM (link to NCSAs, NAPA);
  
• Analysis of existing policies and legal instruments;
  
• Identification of best practices for promoting sustainable land management in the country (sustainable forestry, sustainable agriculture);
  
• Determination of priorities for the country (priority sites, priority themes and issues) through multi-criteria decision making;
  
• Capacity development for monitoring and evaluation of impact of SLM projects;

• Harmonization and synergies with other MEAs (esp. NAPA, Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (BSAP), International Waters (IW)) policies and projects;
  
• Integration of National Action Plans (NAP)/SLM into development processes (Property Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP), Millenium Development Goals (MDG), National Strategy for Sustainable Development (NSSD), National Environment Trust Funds, etc.)  – policies and budgets;

• Identification of strategic funding needs (for both: further targeted capacity development and on-the-ground investments);
• Identification of project concepts and ideas for financing;
• Identification of incentives for private sector involvement;
• Prioritization of projects, programmatic and strategic vision on implementation;
• Donor round tables and/or innovative approaches to resource mobilisation;

Land Degradation Focal Areas

Intensive agricultural production without proper land management practices such as soil erosion control, good tillage and irrigation practice, and judicious agro-chemical use to name a few, eventually results in land degradation, lower crop productivity, and reduced incomes.

The root causes of degradation on croplands in the Caribbean include inappropriate land use, weak capacity for sustainable water and land use planning and implementation, and inappropriate agricultural policies and incentives.

Overgrazing leads to the loss of the vegetative cover in areas where livestock density is beyond the carrying capacity. High livestock density also results in soil compaction because of trampling. In both cases the soil becomes more vulnerable to water or wind erosion. Rangeland or pasture in such a condition lowers livestock growth and survival, leading to loss of income and people’s nutritional well-being.

The causes of land degradation on pasture lands in the Caribbean include the loss of traditional management practices that once regulated grazing and shrinking availability of pasture lands amidst other competing land use demands including human settlement.

Deforestation or human-induced loss of forest cover is a significant contributor to land degradation in the Caribbean. The major causes of land degradation associated with deforestation include conversion of forests for crop, livestock production and other land uses (settlement, commercial), over-harvesting of fuelwood (for energy) and deforestation that results from uncontrolled forest fires.