Livelihoods and Landscapes will work with partners to  further promote environmental restoration and sustainable management as the basis for improving rural livelihoods for the communities living there. The work will promote ongoing and planned for environmental restoration, livelihood improvement and agroforestry, and improved gum-Arabic production in selected areas of Gedaref and Kassala States of eastern Sudan. While forest landscape restoration (community based and joint forest management) will be the focus, this will be broadened to include, for example supporting Gum Arabic restoration (a 4000 year old agroforestry tradition, where Sudan is the world’s largest producer of gum Arabic), processing through building the capacity of people and local level associations, and improving market and value chains (including the potential role of the private sector, potential for fair trade and organic certification) for gum Arabic and other non-wood forest products. This will also include supporting efforts to reduce the scale and extent of illegal Gum Arabic (and other tree products) trade, as one basis for improved forest law enforcement and governance in Sudan. Thanks to Livelihoods and Landscapes, IUCN will be able to open a project office in Khartoum with our Partner, the Forest National Corporation, who have very kindly offered space for us.

Livelihoods and Landscapes will work closely with FNC (Forest National Corporation) and State authorities of Gedaref and Kassala to complement and bring added value to many on-going activities being undertaken between FNC, UNHCR and IUCN. The following will be the key areas of focus and intervention:

  • Establishing sound empirical baselines in the selected areas in Gedaref and Kassala State. All field based implementation activities will then take place in these areas. This will also be a basis for community based environmental and land use planning
  • Promoting agroforestry as one key intervention to improve land use productivity both in rain fed and irrigated areas. This will be mainly based on indigenous species
  • Developing value chains for the marketing of non wood forest products (e.g. gums and resins, dyes, fruits) and increasing the capacity for rural people to process and enter such markets
  • Support the formation of a Gum Arabic Association in Gedaref for the processing and marketing of Gum Arabic. The potential for fair trade and organic certification will be explored through improved production of gum Arabic on farmers fields
  • Assessments will be carried out nationally as to the scale and extent of illegal Gum Arabic (and other tree products) trade and its impact on the economy. This will form the basis for improved FLEG in Sudan
  • Forest restoration will be promoted in some of the selected sites to restore the goods and services of forests through both joint forest management and community based forest management. In addition LLS will support a national participatory forest management conference
  • Opportunities with the private sector engagement will be explored in the processing, marketing and trade in various non-wood forest products.