Online Reporter
Judith Phiri
Zimpapers Business Hub
AS the global community turns its attention to land restoration, drought resilience and sustainable management of drylands at the 17th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD COP17), Zimbabwe is demonstrating how locally driven landscape interventions can translate global commitments on Land Degradation Neutrality into practical action.
COP17, being held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, from 17 to 28 August 2026 under the theme, “Restoring Land. Restoring Hope,” brings together governments, scientists, development partners, communities, farmers, indigenous people, the youth and the private sector to accelerate solutions to desertification, land degradation and drought.
For Zimbabwe, the global discussions provide an important platform to showcase lessons emerging from the Drylands Sustainable Landscapes Impact Program (DSLIP), a GEF-7 supported initiative being implemented in the country to address land and forest degradation while strengthening the resilience of communities and ecosystems in the Runde and Save landscapes.
In an interview, National Project Coordinator for DSLIP, Mrs Precious Magwaza, said she is expected to share Zimbabwe’s experiences and lessons from the implementation of the programme during COP17 side events.
“This will provide us an opportunity to contribute Zimbabwe’s practical evidence to the international conversation on what works in achieving land degradation neutrality at landscape level.
“At the centre of the country’s contribution is a shift from treating land degradation as an isolated environmental problem towards an integrated landscape-management approach that links restoration, sustainable agriculture, forest management, rangeland management, livelihoods, climate resilience and community participation,” she said.
She said land degradation neutrality seeks to ensure that the quantity and quality of land resources needed to support ecosystems, food production and livelihoods are maintained or enhanced rather than continually declining.
Mrs Magwaza said the UNCCD emphasises that land degradation neutrality interventions should protect land-based natural capital while improving human well-being and respecting the rights and needs of land users.
“This principle is being translated into action through DSLIP’s work across Zimbabwe’s dryland landscapes, where communities are increasingly being positioned not merely as beneficiaries of restoration programmes but as active custodians and managers of natural resources,” she added.
“The programme covers the Runde and Save production landscapes, encompassing communities across eight districts and 44 wards. The interventions are designed to respond to the interconnected pressures driving land degradation.”
She said the interventions include unsustainable agricultural practices, deforestation, uncontrolled veld fires, declining soil fertility, rangeland degradation, invasive species, mining-related degradation and climate variability.
Mrs Magwaza said the scale of the interventions was significant, with more than 186 000 hectares currently under improved land management through a combination of conservation agriculture, community-based woodland management, veld fire management, rangeland management, woodlots and active restoration measures.
“Recent reporting has also placed the area under improved sustainable land and forest management at more than 200 000 hectares, illustrating the expanding scale of interventions aimed at reversing environmental degradation and strengthening ecosystem resilience.”
