WOCAT-LDN Task Force

With the new WOCAT 2020+ strategy, WOCAT aims to be a leading and collaborative platform of expertise and a major transformative force in supporting countries and institutions around the world to scale up SLM and achieve LDN. With the new UNCCD-WOCAT partnership agreement, which was signed in February 2020, and the role and representation in various projects and initiatives, WOCAT and its partners have a say, but also a responsibility in the global LDN discourse. A regular exchange between experts of the WOCAT network has not been established so far, and expertise and experience of WOCAT partners often cannot be included in projects. In this context, WOCAT LDN Task force was established in January 2021 to set the ground for efforts on LDN knowledge capitalization and dissemination. The task force will support and advice WOCAT network members acting in LDN projects and debates, and consolidate existing knowledge on robust and user-friendly methods and tools to assist projects and countries to achieve LDN, calculate SDG Indicator 15.3.1 and to monitor and implement LDN projects.

Following up on the lessons learnt and the priority issues, In this section we present the main objectives of WOCAT-LDN Task Force to guide next steps and main lines of work of the group. These objectives might change and adapt in time but serve as a good first.

 Identify ways to support countries with quick effect

• Develop funding proposals. React to the needs of the UNCCD and partner countries.

• Support to countries and regions for exchange of experiences and to address new needs.

• A proper set of integrated tools to combat LD (NB: broader than LDN in the UNCCD definition)

• To build up a platform in which countries, implementers, project coordinators, etc. can access different tools and guidelines to report, monitor and achieve LDN

• Support for strengthening/consolidating the development of guidelines for countries how to use the tools for data collection, analysis and reporting: Compilation of guidelines and training tools.

• To develop tools and methods to provide knowledge for informed decision making towards addressing land degradation through SLM

• The need to support countries with well-targeted capacity building for the use of these tools at the local to national level.

Integration of WOCAT tools to achieve and monitor progress towards LDN

Are there a need to adapt or simplify some of the WOCAT Tools? For monitoring impact of SLM interventions for example

• How do we report on these issues and how user-friendly are the WOCAT Tools to provide in a quick and effective way results/information to compile these reports

• How do we improve/promote the use of WOCAT Tools for LDN implementation and impact monitoring?

• Mapping (update/improvement/alternative of QM)

Strengthen cooperation and synergies among institutions 

• Enhance the communication and collaboration among groups by sharing experiences and identifying possible synergies by integrating tools

• Capitalize on work done to date by individual groups by identifying synergies and opportunities for future work and integration.