| Sumario: | Tunisia
The Tataouine, Kebili and Medenine Governorates in southern Tunisia have a temperate desert climate, with annual rainfall of 100-200 mm/yr at ~100 m elevation, and livelihoods depend on livestock fed on forage from communal rangelands and purchased feeds. The restoration approach used was short-duration, high-stocking-rate opportunistic grazing.
Zaghouan Governorate is in the agrosilvopastoral region of northern Tunisia with annual rainfall of 400 mm/yr at ~200 m elevation, and where agriculture depends on olives and small ruminants on private croplands and state-owned rangelands, including Sbaihia. The restoration approach used was silvopastoral enriched seasonal exclosure.
Climate change, increasing livestock densities, complex land tenure systems, and rangeland fragmentation are key factors contributing to rangeland degradation. The dismantling of Tunisia’s traditional grazing practices, Gdel, has further exacerbated the problem.
East Africa (Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania)
The rangelands of southern Ethiopia (Borana Zone in Oromia Region, southern Somali Region) and northern Kenya (here Baringo, Isiolo, and Marsabit Counties) vary from tropical semi-arid savanna rangelands (350-700 mm/yr at 300-1,700 m elevation), to hot tropical arid desert and semi-desert rangelands (100-350 mm/yr at 200-600 m elevation). Bi-modal annual rainfall is divided among two rainy and two dry seasons each year.
The rangelands of northern Tanzania (here, Kiteto District) have a tropical semi-arid savanna climate, with rainfall of approximately 700 mm/yr annually, at approximately 1,300 m elevation in Kiteto. The uni-modal rainfall in the area means that all rainfall comes in one season, with a single dry season in the remainder of the year.
The restoration approach used was short-resting of 1-6 months, usually in combination with control of problematic and/or invasive plant species.
These rangelands are communal, use and management of which is overseen by local or traditional rangeland management institutions. Livelihoods focus on extensive household milk production, with occasional sales of live animals and products. Farming of annual crops is higher in semi-arid rangelands, especially in uni-modal areas of Tanzania, while arid zones have little farming. Rangeland degradation in East Africa is primarily the result of droughts caused by climate change, weak communal land tenure security, weak local institutional oversight leading to disorganized and heavy grazing, and rangeland fragmentation.
Colombia
The Orinoquia region of Colombia has a tropical humid forest climate, receiving annual rainfall of 2,000-3,000 mm/yr, at 100-200 m elevation. Hacienda San José in Vichada is a private ranch in the Orinoquia managed for beef production, with rainfall of ~2,500 mm/yr at ~100 m elevation. The restoration approach used was rotational grazing with managed spontaneous tree regeneration.
Degraded landscapes in the Orinoquia need effective solutions to minimize the impacts of overgrazing and restore cover of native forest trees, leading to the development of monitoring methods using remote sensing and artificial intelligence (AI) that can track tree cover, aboveground biomass, and soil carbon over private ranches such as Hacienda San José at 9,000 ha.
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