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

Strategy and implementation

The strategy of WB4 is to run a series of comparative field studies, whereby one or more stakeholders are found willing to test the chosen SLM technologies from WB3 on several fields for a number of rainy seasons. The effects are compared to one or more fields/plots without SLM technologies. The comparison plots have a similar environmental setting and land use practices. Although the results of these field studies are difficult to scale up to the study site level, they have as an advantage that the whole exercise is on the experience level of the stakeholder, and not some abstract catchment level simulation exercise. Experimental fields are also good for demonstration purposes, should the stakeholders decide it is worthwhile adopting. This direct approach also facilitates the feedback of the results to the farmers. A second advantage is that the differences in size of the study sites become less important: the selected monitoring locations and the catchments in which they are situated have a similar size which makes the study sites more comparable in the end.

It should be noted that several sites do not use farmer's fields because of the nature of the degradation problems or the technology selected. These are Portugal: forest fires in 4 experimental catchments, Botswana: alternative energy sources, Italy: a catchment analysis of sediment delivery (poor response of farmers), Cape Verde: assessment of established SLM technologies (mostly terraces), Mexico: a nested analysis of series of plots inside catchments of various scales.

Furthermore, the evaluation of the technologies on a larger scale (catchment scale) is feasible in at least half of the sites. It has always been the strategy of DESIRE to use study sites in which research has been going on for several years prior to the project, so that we may benefit from the experience and existing datasets. The sites have embedded their plots in a catchment level research are: Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Tunisia, Crete, Mexico, Italy, China, and Cape Verde.

The implementation of the WB4 strategy is as follows

1. Selection of suitable SLM technologies in Workblock 3.
2. Design phase (WP 4.1): each study site makes a detailed Site Implementation Plan (SIP) according to a general blueprint provided by the WB coordinator (partner 21). The SIP is a summary of the situation on the monitoring fields/locations, followed by a practical implementation of the SLM technologies chosen in WB3 and a detailed monitoring activity plan, divided in several categories. The compiled SIPs are the subject of this report, deliverable 4.1.1.
3. Implementation phase (WP 4.2): each study site collects background data and implements the SLM technologies. During the implementation practical adaptations were sometimes made by the site coordination tem in discussion with the stakeholders, to better fit the circumstances. This happened without major deviations from the original plans. This happened in site 6 (Turkey, Eskisehir area) where sloping terraces with vegetation barriers were created, instead of fully constructed level terraces. Also in site 8, Morocco, olive plantations were not realized because the long term investment could not be met. Instead gully stabilisation with planting of natural vegetation was done.
4. Monitoring phase (WP 4.3): each site reports regularly based on the variables and situations described in the SIP. To help in deciding which monitoring techniques to apply, a document was compiled called "Guidelines for field assessment" (deliverable 4.2.1). The monitoring can be categorized into several types of monitoring: meteo data, one time measurements, regular observations and photos, regular measurements with equipment or sampling, stakeholder activities and yield analysis.
5. Analysis (WP 4.4/4.5): the analysis is done on various levels. The experimental setup provides for a "non-treated" field or plot against which the effect of the technologies is compared. Bio-physical analysis can be done by direct data analysis and modelling. Socio-economic analysis can be done by the collected information on stakeholder's activities, opinions and yield assessments. A second level of analysis can be done between the sites. This is much more difficult as the sites differ considerably. Basically there are two comparisons that can be done: relative comparison of perceived success (i.e. compare the technologies in context of the site) and provide our expert opinion on the success of mitigating or reversing the desertification processes.

Figure 1: Overview of WB4 workflow and logic.