Study site description: Ribeira Seca, Cape Verde

Table of Contents

1. Responsible IP partner
2. General information
3. Bio-physical description
   1. Major natural resources
   2. Land use
   3. Existing practices on land resources
   4. Existing practices on water resources
   5. Existing uses of forest resources
   6. Strengths and weaknesses of existing land use practices
   7. Major degradation issues due to the use of natural resources
4. Socio-economic description
5. Institutional and political setting
6. Relevant end-users / stakeholder groups
7. Past and on-going projects

Land use

The Ribeira Seca basin has a drainage area of 71.50km², 83% of which is occupied by rainfed agriculture, destined essentially to self-consumption. The arid and semi-arid areas have benefited from a vast national forestation campaign since 1975, which include the following species: Prosopis juliflora (Acacia americana), Parkinsonia aculeata (Acacia martins), Acacia holosericea, Acacia victoria, Atriplex sp, etc. The sub-basins of Ribeira Grande and Godim were extensively treated with vegetated terraces of: Leucaena leucocephala-Pennissetum purpureum (see Figure 4: Green belts). The irrigated crops occupy around 5% of the basin (362 ha) and the dense and protected forestall perimeter, forested before 1975, occupy 4% (251ha) of the basins total area (Figure 9).

Figure 9: Land use in Ribeira Seca watershed

The harsh climate (severe droughts) and erosion, linked to man's activities in the natural environment (tree cutting, grazing, agricultural activities, exploration of the superficial formations of creeks and beaches, clandestine construction, etc), have led the Cape Verde government, along with the technical and financial support of the international community, to unchain several protection and conservation actions towards the natural resources. Besides the reforestation campaigns, several other actions have been implemented in parallel, such as hydraulic works. Although all these actions have had a significant positive impact in general, the land is still suffering from the climate and, especially, man's influence (Tavares & Amiotte-Suchet, 2007). Field surveys have shown serious signs of land degradation.