EbA South Team’s Field Missions to the three Pilot Countries

From February to March 2016, the EbA South Project Management Unit, Technical Advisor and International Consultants conducted field missions in Nepal, Mauritania and Seychelles to support the national teams in the planning and implementation of activities for the upcoming year. Highlights of each mission are provided below.

In Nepal, the mission’s activities enabled a long-term EbA research programme to be launched at selected field sites (Chiti and Jita/Taksar) in partnership with Tribhuvan University. In consultation with locals, the project’s adaptation experts designed additional EbA interventions to the ones currently being implemented, which will strengthen and diversify livelihoods in the post-earthquake period.

In Mauritania, the approach of planting climate-resilient indigenous species to both establish protective green belts around settlements (e.g. “New Benichab”) and to generate ‘non-timber forest products’ (NTFPs) was very well received by the local communities and high-level decision makers. Two demonstration sites – covering a total of 208 hectares – in degraded areas were selected to serve as a leading example of the Pan-African Great Green Wall Initiative for Mauritania’s 10 partner countries. To increase technical capacity for dune fixation using an EbA approach, a national EbA training workshop was held in February at the demonstration sites and benefitted nearly 50 local experts. To complement this training, the results of a national survey of indigenous NTFP species – commissioned by the EbA South Project – were used to inform the selection of species at the project’s field sites.

In Seychelles, three EbA workshops were organized with key national partners and stakeholders of EbA South. The implementation of EbA activities at the selected sites (on the islands of Mahé, Praslin and Curieuse) was closely coordinated with national partners and local communities, with a particular focus on transplanting mangrove seedlings from nurseries to improve wetland water flow and flood regulation.