SLM Practices: Technologies and Approaches

WOCAT focuses on efforts to prevent and reduce land degradation and restore degraded land through improved land management technologies and approaches to implement these.

A SLM practice can be either an SLM Technology (a physical practice that controls land degradation and/ or enhances productivity, consisting of one or several measures) or an SLM Approach (ways and means used to implement one or several SLM Technologies, including technical and material support, stakeholder engagement, and other).

The objective of documenting and assessing SLM practices is to share and spread valuable knowledge in land management, support evidence-based decision-making and scale up identified good practices, thereby contributing to preventing and reducing land degradation and to restoring degraded land.

To achieve this, it is important to analyse field experiences and gain a better understanding of the reasons behind successful SLM practices, regardless of  whether they are traditional or indigenous, newly introduced through projects or programmes, adopted and/ or adapted by land users, or recent innovations.

An SLM Technology is a physical practice on the land that controls land degradation, and enhances productivity and/ or other ecosystem services. A Technology consists of one or several measures, such as agronomic, vegetative, structural, and management measures.

WOCAT offers you the opportuntiy to discuss your experience with any of the WOCAT Technology Group in our WOCATpedia Community Platform.

You also find the definition of all of the Technology Groups in the WOCAT Glossary.

Technology Groups:

• Agroforestry
• Area closure (stop use, support restoration)
• Beekeeping, fishfarming etc.
• Cross-slope measure
• Ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction
• Energy efficiency
• Forest plantation management
• Groundwater management
• Home gardens
• Improved ground/ vegetation cover
• Improved plant varieties, animal breeds
• Integrated crop–livestock management
• Integrated pest and disease management (incl. organic agriculture)
• Integrated soil fertility management
• Irrigation management (incl. water supply, drainage)
• Minimal soil disturbance
• Natural and semi-natural forest management
• Pastoralism and grazing land management
• Post-harvest measures
• Rotational system (crop rotation, fallows, shifting cultivation)
• Surface water management (spring, river, lakes, sea)
• Water diversion and drainage
• Water harvesting
• Wetland Protection/Management
• Windbreak/Shelterbelt
• Waste management/ waste water management

An SLM Approach defines the ways and means used to implement one or several SLM Technologies. It describes technical and material support, involvement, and roles of different stakeholders, etc. An Approach can refer to a project/ programme or to activities initiated by land users themselves.

WOCAT offers you the opportuntiy to discuss your experience with any of the WOCAT Approach Group in our WOCATpedia Community Platform.

You also find the definition of all of the Approach Groups in the WOCAT Glossary.

Approaches Groups:

• Traditional / Indigenous Approaches
• Recent Local Initiatives
• Project/Programmes