Eritrea is a hot desert strip along the red sea coast with its mountains rising into the central highlands. The western plains extend to the border with Sudan, a vast arid area that receives little rainfall. The IFAD and GEF supported Catchment and Landscape Management Project (CLMP) is working in the western region to address the salient environmental challenge of land degradation. The main driver is deforestation for cropping, fuel wood demand and grazing expansion. The descending hills of Debub and Gash-Barka, stripped of their vegetative cover, are vulnerable to soil erosion, especially when severe rainstorms occur. In recent years the closure of borders with Sudan and Ethiopia has restricted traditional migration routes of pastoralists in search of water and grassland during the dry season. This has led to intensified population pressures.