Representatives of eight countries and partners contributing to the Drylands Sustainable Landscapes Impact Program (DSL-IP), Regional Cluster in Southern Africa will meet in Harare this week to accelerate the programme’s implementation at country level, develop skills and plan next steps of this major initiative supported by the Global Environment Facility (GEF).

The meeting is the first of its kind in the Southern Africa cluster since the GEF funded programme, led by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), was launched to help end the degradation of drylands and accelerate, through international collaboration, a paradigm shift to their sustainable use and management.

On behalf of the Government of Zimbabwe, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Industry, Ambassador Raphael Faranisi, officially opened the meeting with more than 100 experts from participating countries and partner organizations attending this week’s gathering.

“Our strategy for this project is to demonstrate effective approaches for sustainable land and forest management in order to influence policy and the integration of sustainable environmental management across sectors,” said Ambassador Faranisi in his official opening remarks of the workshop.

“We are at a key point in this ambitious and ground-breaking programme,” said Fritjof Boerstler, Global Coordinator of the DSL-IP.

In Southern Africa, this meeting will be a unique opportunity to strengthen the links and collaboration between countries and help identify what needs to be done, both by countries and international partners, to achieve transformational, durable and replicablechange at scale.

“The DSL-IP is a timely addition to this impressive list of ongoing efforts and initiatives in the subregion. The DSL-IP aims to address the common challenges in managing drylands in an integrated and transformative way, potentially delivering systemic change and a paradigm shift in the target landscapes,” said Patrice Talla, FAO Subregional Coordinator for Southern Africa welcoming participants to the FAO subregion.