FAO
Achieving global Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) requires a deeper understanding of the socio-institutional conditions that enable effective Sustainable Land Management (SLM) across diverse geographical contexts. While substantial progress has been made in documenting SLM practices and their biophysical impacts, critical gaps remain in understanding how implementation conditions, stakeholder dynamics, and collaborative governance processes shape socio-economic and ecological outcomes. This research project addresses these gaps through a multi-method, cross-case analysis drawing on global datasets, including the World Overview of Conservation Approaches and Technologies (WOCAT) database and original survey data from SLM practitioners across 41 countries.
The project is organized into three interconnected phases. The first examines the enabling and hindering conditions influencing SLM implementation and their relationship to socio-economic outcomes. The second investigates how stakeholder composition, participation across project phases, and decision-making arrangements affect project effectiveness in achieving intended outcomes. The third advances this analysis by operationalizing the Integrative Framework for Collaborative Governance (IFCG), to assess how collaborative dynamics of principled engagement, shared motivation, and capacity for joint action influence perceived decision-making effectiveness and project outcomes.
Project Point of Contact: Diana Githu (dgithu@arizona.edu)