The project works with multiple stakeholders – including state government, rural development and environmental agencies, key research institutes, NGOs, and farmers’ organisations – to gain 9.6 million tonnes of CO2 sequestration by implementing 18,000 hectares of agroforestry and ecological restoration in collaboration with around 3,000 farming families.

The argan tree (Argania spinosa), a species native to the Kingdom of Morocco, grows in arid and semiarid regions. The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) recognized the argan-based agro-sylvo-pastoral system within the area of Ait Souab-Ait Mansour in Morocco as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System.

To decrease the vulnerability of these communities, the DeSIRA project, funded by the European Union and implemented by International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in Rwanda in collaboration with Ghent University, ICRAF and partners, is enhancing capacity of smallholder farmers to cope with the impacts of climate change through knowledge sharing actions aligned to the IUCN Nature-based solutions.

On 26th August 2022, The Gambia’s Minister of Environment, Climate Change and Natural Resources, Hon. Rohey John Manjang, made history when she launched the National Agroforestry Strategy for the Gambia 2022-2032, following successful validation by participant stakeholders the day before.

Two biodiverse agricultural and agroforestry systems in Ecuador were recognized Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).