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

Strengths and weaknesses of existing land use practices

Strengths

The soil and water conservation techniques are widely spread throughout the entire country. From our survey on the 1940's famines, this effort started after the famines, since the survivors are unanimous in their analysis that before the famines little was done for soil and water conservation. In the last 60 years, the landscape changed dramatically, with a large investment of all kinds of soil and water conservation techniques, including check dams, terraces, half moons, vegetation strips, etc. Land use practices have had a positive impact on the environment, the economy, food production and in combating land degradation.

Weaknesses

The major weakness has to do with the growing population and the increasing pressure over the natural resources. The techniques are probably the best that can be applied to a steep terrain that is very intensively occupied. With the exception of rock outcrops, most of the landscape is used by the local population to grow corn and beans during the wet season, which puts a heavy burden on soils with a limited carrying capacity. The soil and water conservation techniques and strategies are meant to limit the degradation processes.