AICCRA Global Theme FP1
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Item Regional Policy Coherence for The Great Green Wall Initiative: Exploring Alignment of the AU Great Green Wall Initiative Strategy with the AU Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan and the AU Green Recovery Action Plan(Brief, 2025-05-13) African UnionThis policy brief explores how enhanced policy coherence among three flagship African Union strategies - the Great Green Wall Initiative (GGWI) Strategy and Ten-Year Implementation Framework (2024–2034), the Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (2023–2030), and the Green Recovery Action Plan (2021–2027) - can significantly advance biodiversity conservation, land restoration, and climate resilience across Africa. It highlights key areas of alignment, including the promotion of nature-based solutions, sustainable land and water management, and integrated ecosystem restoration. Central to the GGWI Strategy is the scaling up of nature-based practices that create resilient value chains supporting biodiversity and local livelihoods. The brief also underscores the importance of equity and gender-transformative approaches, the integration of Indigenous knowledge systems, and inclusive benefit-sharing mechanisms to ensure socially just and effective conservation outcomes. Furthermore, the brief emphasises strengthening multisectoral engagement and aligning national and regional strategies - including National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans - to foster coordinated implementation. Mobilising public and private investment and establishing strategic partnerships with global biodiversity and climate networks are also identified as critical enablers. By embedding biodiversity as a core criterion for country participation and promoting cross-sectoral collaboration, the GGWI and aligned strategies can accelerate progress toward the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, the Sustainable Development Goals, and broader climate and development goals.Item Regional Policy Coherence for the Great Green Wall Initiative: Maximising the flow and impact of finance(Brief, 2025-05-13) African UnionAchieving the ambitious goals of the Great Green Wall Initiative (GGWI) requires unlocking and sustaining substantial financial resources to drive land restoration and climate resilience across Africa’s drylands. This policy brief examines the financial dimensions of the GGWI Strategy and Ten-Year Implementation Framework (2024–2034), highlighting key challenges and opportunities for enhancing funding mobilisation, financial governance, and investment impact. The GGWI Strategy prioritises regional policy coherence as a means to improve access to diverse funding streams, reduce inefficiencies, and bolster the initiative’s investment appeal. Strategic alignment with complementary African Union frameworks - such as the Green Recovery Action Plan (GRAP), Climate Change and Resilient Development Strategy (CCRDS), Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (ABSAP), and the Sustainable Forest Management Framework (SFMF) - enhances synergies and opens avenues for blended finance, green bonds, and payments for ecosystem services. Robust monitoring, reporting, and verification systems, including digital and satellite-based tools, are central to unlocking results-based climate finance. Furthermore, dedicated financial instruments for women- and youth-led enterprises, Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) aligned investment standards, and expanded private sector participation are critical for inclusive financing. The brief also emphasises the importance of strengthening subnational financial capacities, improving domestic resource mobilisation, and aligning GGWI implementation with macroeconomic and nature-positive financial reforms. By fostering innovation in finance, enhancing governance readiness, and aligning with regional and global frameworks, the GGWI can scale up sustainable investment and accelerate the restoration of degraded landscapes. This financial transformation is key to delivering climate resilience, biodiversity conservation, and improved livelihoods across Africa.Item Regional Policy Coherence for the Great Green Wall Initiative: Restoring Land and Sustaining Peace: The Great Green Wall and the Climate– Peace–Security Nexus in Africa(Brief, 2025-05-13) African UnionClimate change poses an escalating threat to Africa’s development, peace, and security. Despite contributing minimally to global emissions, the continent faces disproportionate loss and damage due to limited adaptive capacity and rising climate-related security risks including competition over natural resources, food and water insecurity, forced migration, and conflict. These converging challenges are increasingly shaping African policy agendas, with the African Union Peace and Security Council (AUPSC) recognising climate change as a key driver of instability and developing a Common African Position on Climate, Peace and Security (CAP-CPS). The African Union’s Great Green Wall Initiative (GGWI) offers a vital entry point to address this nexus by restoring degraded landscapes, strengthening community resilience, and advancing peace-positive development. Related initiatives such as the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021–2030), the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) Peace Forest Initiative (2019), and the African Union Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (ABSAP) (2023 – 2030) provide complementary platforms to mainstream conflict-sensitive land restoration. Drawing on findings from the Africa Climate Security Risk Assessment (ACRA) and the African Union’s Climate Change, Peace and Security Nexus Report, this brief outlines how the GGWI can support integrated climate-security responses through three peace-positive pathways: (i) restoring natural buffers to reduce conflict, (ii) rebuilding social cohesion through participatory restoration, and (iii) supporting livelihood resilience to reduce instability and displacement. Key recommendations include integrating climate-security assessments into GGWI planning, aligning with the CAP-CPS and supporting African Union-led coordination, providing targeted readiness support for vulnerable and conflict-affected areas, promoting peace-positive nature-based solutions and carbon restoration pathways, operationalising early warning and peacebuilding tools, strengthening transboundary cooperation and mediation, expanding monitoring systems to track peace co-benefits, leveraging GGWI programmes as entry points for peace mediation and dialogue, and facilitating inclusive land governance and tenure security.Item Regional Policy Coherence for the Great Green Wall Initiative: Reviving Livestock and Pastoral Systems in Africa’s Drylands - Opportunities Within the Great Green Wall Framework(Brief, 2025-05-13) African UnionThis policy brief explores how the African Union’s Great Green Wall Initiative (GGWI) can serve as a transformative vehicle to revitalise livestock and pastoral systems across Africa’s drylands. These systems are vital for food security, rural livelihoods, ecosystem integrity, and cultural heritage, yet face mounting threats from climate change, land degradation, insecure tenure, and marginalisation. The revised GGWI Strategy and Ten-Year Implementation Framework (2024–2034) recognises the indispensable role of these systems and positions them as central to land restoration and climate resilience efforts. The GGWI Strategy promotes a suite of integrated, landscape-based approaches that link ecological restoration with productive land use. These include evergreen and climate-smart agriculture, pastoral-managed natural regeneration, agrisilviculture, and silvopastoral systems. It also highlights livestock-specific practices such as participatory rangeland management, holistic planned grazing, adaptive multi-paddock grazing, regenerative grazing, controlled grazing, and exclosures. The GGWI’s four strategic intervention axes collectively provide a robust framework for integrating pastoral systems into sustainable land restoration. Axis 1 promotes inclusive governance and participatory leadership, ensuring that pastoralist voices shape policy and implementation. Axis 2 embeds livestock systems into landscape restoration by advancing agroecological practices, strengthening value chains, and supporting nature-based enterprises. Axis 3 focuses on creating an enabling environment through multi-sectoral coordination, inclusive capacity development, and adaptive planning. Axis 4 aligns GGWI efforts with regional and global frameworks - such as the African Union Policy Framework for Pastoralism, the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists (2026), and flagship initiatives like the World Bank Regional Sahel Pastoralism Support project (PRAPS-2) and Sustainable Investments for Large-Scale Rangeland Restoration (STELARR) - to amplify impact and foster knowledge exchange. Grounded in adaptive practices, local knowledge, and multi-level collaboration, the GGWI Strategy offers a comprehensive and inclusive roadmap for restoring rangelands, strengthening farmer and pastoral livelihoods, and achieving climate-resilient development in Africa’s drylands.Item Climate change and the Kenyan dairy industry(Presentation, 2025-01-14) Cramer, Laura KatherineA regional knowledge management workshop for the dairy sector was held on the 14th January 2025 by the Eastern Africa Farmers Federation (EAFF) in Naivasha, Kenya. The session brought together stakeholders to exchange experiences, strengthen farmer organisation networks, and discuss policy priorities. This presentation, delivered by Dr Laura Cramer, begins with an overview of climate change impacts and implications for the dairy industry in East Africa, highlighting adaptation options (e.g. cooling techniques, resilient breeds and water and feed storage techniques) to build resilience. It then focuses on greenhouse gas emissions mitigation in Kenyan dairy systems, outlining key interventions (e.g. improved feeding, reducing milk loss and waste, biogas digesters, energy efficiency) and emphasising the critical role of animal health in reducing emissions.Item Climate-smart forage and feed actions: Exploring sustainable forage and feed practices for enhanced livestock nutrition, agricultural productivity, environmental health and climate resilience(Presentation, 2025-02-25) Cramer, Laura KatherineAhead of SB62 in June 2025, the African Group of Negotiators Experts Support (AGNES) convened a pre-SB62 strategy meeting from 25th to 28th February 2025 to deliberate and prepare a common African position on the Global Goal on Adaptation, climate finance, gender, and agriculture. The session emphasised the urgency of strengthening implementation strategies, securing climate finance, and building cross-sectoral partnerships to advance effective and lasting climate action across the continent. This presentation, delivered by Dr Laura Cramer, gave an overview of climate-smart, AICCRA-validated technologies for integrated forage production, offering livestock farmers practical tools to adapt to a changing climate. The presentation covered a range of topics, including climate-smart livestock management, the importance of cultivated forage, forage integration into existing farm systems, forage production in degraded areas, benefits of fodder trees, livestock feed requirements and improved troughs, and smart seed bundles. The practical nature of the presentation was well received, underlining the value of accessible, scalable innovations in advancing Africa’s CSA agenda.Item Global Goal on Adaptation(Brief, 2025-06-01) Njuguna, Lucy WanjikuThis learning note provides an overview of the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA), highlighting its establishment in 2015 as a collective commitment to enhance adaptive capacity, strengthen resilience, and reduce vulnerability to climate change in line with the temperature goal of the Paris Agreement. It outlines the current progress in operationalising and measuring the GGA, describing key milestones such as the Glasgow–Sharm el-Sheikh (GlaSS) work programme and the ongoing United Arab Emirates (UAE)-Belem work programme on indicators. The note reviews the status of work on defining targets and indicators, and the persistent gaps and unresolved questions that hinder comprehensive assessment. Key takeaways include: the GGA will be critical in assessing adaptation progress under the Global Stocktake (GST) and despite the slow but steady advancement, the recent agreement on global targets marks a critical step forward. With less than six months remaining in the UAE-Belem process, broadening engagement and integrating diverse perspectives are now essential to shaping robust, inclusive indicators that can effectively inform the GST and support transformative adaptation action.Item Long term low emission and climate resilient development strategies - 14 April 2025(Presentation, 2025-04-14) Chevallier, RomyThis presentation was for the African Group of Negotiators Expert Support (AGNES) Climate Governance, Diplomacy and Negotiations Leadership Program. The Program aims to build and strengthen African climate leaders by improving their knowledge and negotiation skills to enable them to engage effectively in international climate change policy discourse as well as contribute to the successful implementation of climate actions at regional and national levels.Item African Union Great Green Wall Initiative Strategy and Ten-Year Implementation Framework (2024-2034): Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning and Adaptation(Brief, 2025-05-13) African, UnionThis brief presents the proposed Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning, and Adaptation (MELA) approach for the revised African Union Great Green Wall Initiative (GGWI) Strategy and Ten-Year Implementation Framework (2024–2034). The MELA framework is central to ensuring adaptive design, implementation, and continuous improvement of GGWI actions across scales. It emphasizes the need for dedicated planning, adequate resourcing, and robust learning processes to support large-scale landscape restoration and livelihood resilience. The brief highlights the key components of the MELA approach - the development of a multi-scale, comparable scorecard to track progress and a biennial reporting process. It further describes how progress will be monitored through changes in ecosystems, institutions, policies, and community well-being. Learning and reflection are positioned as integral to adaptive management, with mechanisms for local, subnational, national, and continental learning loops.Item African Union Great Green Wall Initiative Strategy and Ten-Year Implementation Framework (2024-2034): Summaries of the Four Strategic Intervention Axes(Brief, 2025-05-13) African, UnionThese briefs present the four Strategic Intervention Axes of the revised African Union Great Green Wall (GGW) Initiative Strategy and Ten-Year Implementation Framework (2024–2034). The Axes are designed to drive progress toward the GGW’s vision and objectives by providing a coherent structure for coordinated action. They include: 1. Enhancing leadership, governance, and political commitment; 2. Co-designing and delivering pathways toward transformative restoration, resilience and development; 3. Enhancing the means of implementation for resilient landscape restoration; and 4. Leveraging and aligning with existing initiatives. Each Axis outlines key intervention areas and priority actions that together form a strategic roadmap to guide implementation at all levels. Full details of these areas and actions are provided in the accompanying briefs.Item African Union Great Green Wall Initiative Strategy and Ten-Year Implementation Framework (2024–2034): Strategic Intervention Axes 2 and 3(Poster, 2025-05-13) African, UnionThese posters present Strategic Intervention Axes 2 and 3 of the revised African Union Great Green Wall (GGW) Initiative Strategy and Ten-Year Implementation Framework (2024–2034). The Axes include: 2) Co-designing and delivering pathways toward transformative restoration, resilience and development, and 3) Enhancing the means of implementation for resilient landscape restoration. The Axes are designed to support the achievement of the GGW vision and objectives. Each Axis comprises several intervention areas with specific priority actions, the details of which are included in these posters.Item Long term, low emission, and climate resilient development strategies. Long term strategies / Decarbonisation Frameworks(Presentation, 2025-04-14) Chevallier, RomyThis presentation was for the African Group of Negotiators Expert Support (AGNES) Climate Governance, Diplomacy and Negotiations Leadership Program. The Program aims to build and strengthen African climate leaders by improving their knowledge and negotiation skills to enable them to engage effectively in international climate change policy discourse as well as contribute to the successful implementation of climate actions at regional and national levels.Item African Union Great Green Wall Initiative Strategy and Ten-Year Implementation Framework: Ecosystem Restoration and Livelihoods Resilience (2024-2034)(Brief, 2025-05-13) African, UnionThis brief outlines the proposed coordination and implementation approach of the new African Union Great Green Wall Initiative (GGWI) Strategy and Ten-Year Implementation Framework (2024–2034). It presents the structure and roles of GGWI bodies and supporting institutions across all levels, from international to community scale, and emphasizes the importance of private sector engagement throughout. The brief details the proposed coordination arrangements, including indicative relationships among key institutions and stakeholders. It also sets out proposed membership criteria for countries, international and national organizations, subnational bodies, networks, and private sector actors. Finally, it describes the proposed criteria for endorsement and the inclusion of new initiatives contributing to the GGWI’s objectives.Item From Baku to Belem: Key insights and next steps for climate and agriculture(Report, 2025-03-31) Chevallier, Romy; Gosling, AmandaThis report presents the key insights and outcomes from the workshop From Baku to Belém: Key Insights and Next Steps for Climate and Agriculture, held on 5 March 2025. Co-hosted by the Eastern Africa Farmers Federation (EAFF) and Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa (AICCRA), the workshop was convened in response to significant developments from the 29th Conference of the Parties (COP29) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), held in Baku, Azerbaijan, at the end of 2024. The event brought together farmers, experts, and civil society actors to unpack the implications of COP29 for African agriculture, climate ambition, and finance. In addition to analysing COP29, participants also reviewed key outcomes relevant to farmers from the other two Rio Conventions - the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) COP16 in Cali, Colombia, and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) COP16 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The workshop created space for reflection on the current status of agriculture in climate negotiations and key challenges and opportunities related to climate finance and broader policy engagement. Drawing on diverse perspectives, the workshop helped the EAFF and its member organisations refine their strategic positioning ahead of the second African Climate Summit (September 2025) and COP30 (November 2025). The report concludes with a summary of recommended actions, including forging and maintaining partnerships, influencing policy through strategic inputs, improving access to climate finance, increasing engagement in climate-related events, and strengthening data sharing and advocacy to support climate-resilient agriculture.Item Advancing Africa's Soil Health Monitoring to Support the Nairobi Declaration and CAADP Kampala Agenda(Brief, 2025-03-01) African Union Development Agency, NEPADThis brief addresses the urgent need to improve soil health as a foundation for tackling Africa’s interconnected challenges of land degradation, climate change, food insecurity, and biodiversity loss. It aims to deepen technical understanding of key elements of soil health by promoting common definitions, robust monitoring systems, and relevant indicators. The brief supports African Union (AU) Member States in meeting their commitments under the Nairobi Declaration and the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) Kampala Agenda, while contributing to the objectives of the African Fertilizer and Soil Health (AFSH) Action Plan and the new Ten-Year CAADP Strategy and Action Plan (2026-2035). It explores how soil health indicators can be effectively aligned with the current CAADP Biennial Review monitoring system and integrated into the CAADP Kampala framework by 2025. Through an examination of policy frameworks, indicator integration, and system design, the brief offers practical insights for advancing a coordinated and effective soil health monitoring agenda across the continent.Item The Imperative for Strengthening Soil Information Systems in Africa: Reflections and Key Insights from Practice(Brief, 2025-03-01) African Union Development Agency, NEPADThis brief highlights the urgent need to enhance soil information systems (SISs) to address Africa’s interconnected challenges of land degradation, climate change, food insecurity, and biodiversity loss. Drawing on insights from Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, and regional efforts, the brief explores how well-designed SISs can support data-driven decision-making at sub-national, national, and regional levels. It examines the current landscape of soil data systems, showcases practical examples such as the Makueni County Resource Hub and the West Africa Regional Soil Hub, and emphasizes the importance of integrating and aligning soil health indicators in continental policy frameworks including the Nairobi and Kampala Declarations, the Africa Fertilizer and Soil Health (AFSH) Action Plan (2023–2033), and the Ten-Year Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) Strategy and Action Plan (2026–2035). The brief calls for co-designed, inclusive, and context-responsive SISs that combine traditional knowledge with scientific data to inform actionable recommendations. It advocates for leveraging existing initiatives, strengthening multi-stakeholder collaboration, and building capacity to increase the utility and accessibility of soil information. By fostering open and integrated soil data ecosystems, Africa can reduce redundancy, improve coordination, and enable more effective responses to its pressing environmental and agricultural challenges—ultimately enhancing ecosystem services, farmer livelihoods, and climate resilience across the continent.Item Training on climate-smart forage and feed innovations - Malawi(Report, 2025-01-31) Njoloma, Joyce; Nyoka, Isaac; Gosling, Amanda; Cramer, Laura KatherineTo address land degradation, climate change, and livestock feed gaps in semi-arid Malawi, the Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa (AICCRA) project in partnership with the Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF), initiated the spillover of validated climate-smart feed and forage technologies, with a focus on Gliricidia sepium agroforestry practices. Over 2-3 December 2024, a workshop was held in Dowa District, Malawi, to improve training participants’ knowledge on the selected technologies as well as enhance partnerships and collaboration to accelerate the spillover process. This workshop report outlines the rationale for the training, details how the event was planned and implemented, and provides an overview of the participants. It concludes with a summary of the key findings and proposes recommendations to guide the way forward.Item Training on climate-smart forage and feed innovations - Tanzania(Report, 2025-01-31) Mpelangwa, Eziacka; Kimaro, Anthony; Gosling, Amanda; Cramer, Laura KatherineTo address land degradation, climate change, and livestock feed gaps in semi-arid Tanzania the Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa (AICCRA) project, in partnership with the Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF), initiated the spillover of validated climate-smart feed and forage technologies, with a focus on Gliricidia sepium agroforestry practices. On the 5th of December 2024, a workshop was held in Dodoma, Tanzania, to improve training participants’ knowledge on the selected technologies as well as enhance partnerships and collaboration to accelerate the spillover process. This workshop report highlights the need for the training and provides information on the participants and how the workshop was planned and conducted. The report concludes with the key challenges raised and proposed actions for the way forward.Item The Imperative for Strengthening Soil Information Systems (SISs) in Africa: Reflections and Key Insights from Practice(Brief, 2025-03-01) African Union Development Agency- NEPADThis policy brief presents the case for scaling and integrating soil information systems (SISs) as a foundational step toward addressing Africa’s urgent challenges of land degradation, food and nutrition insecurity, biodiversity loss, and climate change. With over 65% of productive land degraded and millions of smallholder farmers struggling to grow food in nutrient-depleted soils, the need for healthy, resilient soils has never been more critical. This policy brief emphasizes that healthy soil underpins sustainable agricultural systems and delivers essential ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration, drought resilience, and erosion control. It calls on African Union Member States to develop cohesive, evidence-based monitoring frameworks that enable targeted, locally relevant soil restoration and investment decisions. The brief offers practical policy recommendations to align soil health indicators with continental commitments such as the Nairobi and Kampala Declarations, the Africa Fertilizer and Soil Health (AFSH) Action Plan (2023–2033), and the new Ten-Year Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) Strategy and Action Plan (2026-2035). It advocates for leveraging existing initiatives, supporting the co-design of SISs with stakeholders, and raising awareness of soil health's pivotal role in achieving sustainable development across Africa.Item Africa Fertilizer and Soil Health Action Plan: Outcome 3(Poster, 2024-07-11) African Union Development Agency- NEPADThis poster presents Outcome 3 - ‘Greater Efficiency, Resilience and Sustainable Use of Mineral and Organic Fertilizer Inputs and Enhancement of Soil Health Interventions’ of the Africa Fertilizer and Soil Health (AFSH) Action Plan. It gives the AFSH Action Plan’s Vision, Expected Impact, Strategy and the contributing Outcome 3 with associated Outputs (3.1 – 3.4) and Action areas.