Innovation platforms for sustainable land management in East African landscapes: Stewardship, incentives, and challenges

Abstract

This paper examines the potential role of innovation platforms (IPs) in facilitating the adoption and scaling up of Sustainable Land Management (SLM) practices in East Africa, where land degradation has been a prime challenge affecting food security, livelihoods, and environmental services. Land degradation in Ethiopia has been costing about 3% of the agricultural gross domestic product with an estimated value of US$7 billion over a 20year period (Berry 2003). Similarly, communities around Mount Elgon in Uganda have been seriously affected by land degradation in multiple ways, including recurrent landslides, which have caused many deaths and destroyed livelihoods