Overview of field experiments

Table of Contents

1. The monitoring strategy of WB4
   1. Main objectives
   2. Strategy and implementation
   3. The Site Implementation Plan (SIP)
2. Breakdown and overview of site activities
3. Annex 1 - Overview of WOCAT SLM Technologies QT 9 Specification

Main objectives

The main objective of this work block is to test the effectiveness of the conservation and mitigation measures selected by the stakeholders in WB3 in a series of comparative field trials that are run for 2 to 3 years. The effectiveness is to be tested against two goals.

1. On the one hand the expected results of the stakeholders are tested, in general farmers, which have to implement the soil and water conservation measures. Their goal is generally a direct improvement of their crop yield and/or security, or a reduction in the risk of crop/grazing failure, which they expect will happen within the lifecycle of the project.
2. The wider goal of the project is to mitigate or reduce desertification processes in an area. This is mostly the goal of the scientists involved, although many stakeholders recognize the negative impact of desertification processes and also wish to improve this in the long run (such as reduced erosion, drought or salinisation).

The project enables a comparison of similar sustainable land management (SLM) technologies across sites, i.e. over a range of environments and land use practices. This comparison should lead an appraisal of more general conservation and remediation strategies, which are commonly applicable in a range of environments and define a "good farming practices". Ultimately both farmers and local government can then be advised on the integration of conservation measures in their annual farming plans.

In order to integrate the results better in existing methodologies, and not produce "yet another" set of SWC advices, the trials and activities are closely integrated into the WOCAT system: World Overview of Conservation Approaches and Technologies (http://www.wocat.net). Workblock 4 focuses on the monitoring and evaluation of SLM technologies, defined as "agronomic, vegetative, structural and management measures that prevent, mitigate or rehabilitate land degradation and enhance productivity in the field". Technologies are embedded in wider strategies of implementation called approaches, defined as "ways and means of support that help to introduce, implement, adapt and apply soil and water conservation technologies on the ground". In this context, evaluating technologies is the immediate goal of WB4, while defining approaches is one of the overall goals of the DESIRE project.

Secondary objectives of WB4 are to improve the indicator system of WB2 where possible with the outcomes of the experiments, and help in defining better indicators for those sites that are not well represented yet in the indicator system (which was originally made for a Mediterranean environment). Also WB4 will provide part of the dataset for the large scale modelling in WB5 with PESERA.