1. Guidelines for Stakeholder Workshop 1: Identification of existing and potential prevention and mitigation strategies

The Guidelines contain specifications for the following:

2. Workshop support material: model cycles and thematic sheets

A variety of additional material (diagrams, questionnaires) is provided to support the workshops and the exercises. These are an essential to the workshop.

	Cycles Support material Biomass cycle Water cycle
	Thematic sheets Matrix stakeholders Thematic sheet - cycles Thematic sheet - environment Thematic sheet - SLM strategy Thematic sheet - stakeholders Titles thematic sheets

More details ... download the full Guidelines and workshop support material
	WP3.1 Workshop Guidelines (2.15 MB)
	WP3.1 Cycles [1.91 MB]
	WP3.1 Thematic sheets [378.1 kB]

Brief summary

The DESIRE Research Theme 3 training workshop was attended by 21 participants from 12 DESIRE study sites in Spain, Portugal, Greece, Turkey, China, Russia, Cape Verde, Botswana, Mexico and Chile. The participants received the guidelines and material for the conduction of the stakeholder workshop 1 and the assessment of SLM strategies in advance. With the help of this material, the training allowed to conduct practical exercises with a high learning effect.

Participants also got the chance to act as moderators of certain exercises.

• Day 1 focused on a general introduction to Research Theme 3 methodology and the introduction to the
  objectives and the organisation of stakeholder workshop 1. This stakeholder workshop will
  be organized in each study site and aims at a mutual learning on land degradation and
  conservation and the identification of actual and potential solutions to mitigate desertification.
• Day 2 was conducted in the field and allowed to experience certain exercises in the
  Torrealvilla catchment of the Guadalentín basin (Spanish study site). A transect walk in two
  groups enabled to illustrate the disturbances of the water and the biomass cycle, their
  causes and impacts as well as their solutions.
• Day 3 aimed at identifying the stakeholders and at assessing locally applied solutions as well
  as potential strategies.
• Day 4 included field training on the documentation and evaluation of applied technologies
  and approaches in the Torrealvilla catchment. The 3 groups worked on the assessment of
  terraces, contour ploughing and check dams.
• Day 5 focused on the WOCAT database and the data review process. Enough time was also
  dedicated to the tentative planning of Research Theme 3 activities for each study site.

The training was well received by the participants. They all participated very actively and
developed an outstanding group spirit.

Brief synthesis

Analysing the single workshop reports reveals that in almost all study sites it was possible to identify promising land conservation practices for further assessment and to establish a good basis for participative stakeholder cooperation. Such a first assessment of SLM measures conducted by local and external stakeholders gives already a clear understanding of the importance and benefit of the various measures. In 3 study sites the list was compiled by researchers only (Crete and Nestos Basin, Greece; Rendina Basin, Italy).

From a total of 60 priority measures of all study sites, 39 are already applied solutions, whereas 21 are potential solutions. It is noticeable that in some study sites, all promising measures are already applied and in others all are potential only. Among the first group (all applied) are the study sites of Portugal, Nestos Basin Greece, Crete Greece, Morocco, Tunisia and China, and among the second group (all potential) Djanybek Russia and Chile. Whether this corresponds to countries with a tradition in soil and water conservation or not is non conclusive.

Looking at the type of measures results in 19 agronomic, 10 vegetative, 23 structural and 25 management measures, whereas in 17 cases two types of measures are combined. Some conservation technologies are mentioned in several study sites, such as drip irrigation which is mentioned in both Russian, both Turkish and the Crete Greece study sites, but being applied so far in Konya Karapinar (Turkey) and Crete (Greece) only. Other measure can also be grouped into similar categories, as presented in the table below. The table serves as first overview of the identified measures.

The table indicates that there is a high variety of measures represented. This variety is also reflecting the diversity of degradation and desertification problems prevalent in the study sites. Most of the identified measures are on cropland (66%), 16% are on grazing land and 5% on forest land. The rest is on a combination of two of these land use types. Limiting factors are often costs, education or technical constraints, whereas the perception of these limiting factors is mostly similar between local and external stakeholders. In many study sites it got clear that the land users need support from the government in one or the other way to combat land degradation and desertification, such as direct financial support or training. The similarity or agreement between local and external stakeholders applies also for the assessed potential of the identified measures in the local context.

More analysis on the first stakeholder workshop reports has been done in the synthesis report »Stakeholder Workshop 1: All study sites - analysis and synthesis.

The analysis and synthesis of the first stakeholder workshops reflects the wealth of information which was gathered and discussed in the study sites. It allows understanding of the similarities as well as the variability between study sites resulting from the various socio-economic and bio-physical settings. Because all the sites represent desertification-prone areas, some major processes (e.g. causes, impacts and indicators) of desertification can be synthesised.

{xtypo_quote}Although their interest was high at the beginning, to keep this dynanism through the project duration is a huge challenge. (Eskişehir, Turkey){/xtypo_quote}

The report contains discussion of

• how the workshops were conducted in each site;
• results from the single exercises (the causes and effects of land degradation identified through the water and biomass cycles; local indicators; stakeholders influence on, and motivation for, sustainable land management; assessment of locally applied technologies and approaches; overall strategies for sustainable land management);
• workshop evaluation (stakeholder involvement and participation; atmosphere; methodology; mutual learning; results and recommendations);
• strengths and weaknesses of the workshop methodology in the context of DESIRE.

More details ... read on-line or download the full report
	WP3.1 Report and synthesis on the 1st stakeholder workshops
	WP3.1 Report and synthesis on the 1st stakeholder workshops [0.64 MB]