Drylands and rangelands sustain over two billion people globally and the health and resilience of their landscapes and livelihoods is essential to manage natural and human-induced threats, such as from drought.
Facing increased climatic and other threats, building human capacities and expertise in transformative dryland management is a critical approach to making these systems more resilient and sustainable.
With these aims in mind, the Second Drylands Summer School on ‘Monitoring Agrosilvopastoral Systems for Sustainability and Ecosystem Services ‘ in Nairobi (12-15 September 2024) brought together 27 expert and practitioner ‘students’ to strengthen their capacities to combat problems in sustainably managing dryland forests and agrosilvopastoral resources, with a special focus on restoration in agrosilvopastoral systems.
Capacity development is central to the Jameel Observatory for Food Security Action’s emerging Dryland Futures Academy – particularly the ‘dryland leaders programme’ – that aims to enhance the resilience of dryland communities in the face of ever-increasing climate shocks. We were thus excited to contribute a session by Guyo Malicha Roba on ‘monitoring pastoral activities in rangelands’ to the Summer School.
About the Summer School
Summer school groupwork
The second Summer School was convened by the Food and Agriculture Organization Committee on Forestry Working Group on Dryland Forests and Agrosilvopastoral Systems, in partnership with the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification’s G20 Global Land Initiative, the Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF), the World Overview of Conservation Approaches and Technologies hosted by the University of Bern, Community Jameel, the Jameel Observatory for Food Security Early Action, the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, the Agricultural Research Council of South Africa, the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists 2026, the GEF-7 Sustainable Forest Management Impact Program on Dryland Sustainable Landscapes and the Kenya Forest Service.
Hosted by CIFOR-ICRAF in Nairobi, the UNCCD G20 Global Land Initiative was the main sponsor of the Summer School; Community Jameel funded the field trip.