Integrated Disaster and Land Management

The project objective was to strengthen institutional capacity of targeted institutions to manage the risk of flooding and land degradation in targeted rural and urban areas. The Government of Togo aimed to achieve objective through 1) community-based activities in watershed and flood-prone areas; 2) community-based activities in cropland and grazing lands; 3) community-based sustainable forest and wetland management; as well as 4) early warning, monitoring and knowledge systems and 5) institutional strengthening and awareness raising. The project was comprehensive, using insitutional capacity building and awareness raising of sustainable land management (SLM) for DRM, and using community-based activities to restore and sustainably manage areas such as the  restoration of natural waterways, reforestation of hillsides and watersheds ,and bush fire control (Savanna, Maritime and Kara regions). To reduce pressure on forest resources and restore ecosystem services, communities were assisted in preparing sustainable financing plans and in designing small income generation activities in and around select protected areas and forests. Environmental monitoring was also used to assist in monitoring vegetation cover and land use (crop, pasture/range, forest, wetland, protected area, and other relevant categories), and to provide carbon sequestration estimates in select project areas. The project benefits communities living in flood-prone areas in all five regions of Togo (Savanna, Maritime, Plateau, Central, and Kara). The project will benefits communities settled in the buffer zones of selected protected areas as well as farmers in selected rural areas.