E.C.O. T.E.R.R.A.: Empowerment of Communities and Organizations Transforming Economies towards Restoration of Rural Areas

About this project

In Zimbabwe, climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme events, such as droughts and floods, causing desertification and land degradation, thereby reducing the productivity of agricultural and livestock activities, which account for 15 percent of GDP and the major source of livelihood of male and female small-scale farmers. The poor climate resilience of the agro-zootenical practices currently adopted by the peasant population results in the search for new fertile land to devote to agriculture, with further deforestation and soil degradation, competition over land use among the agricultural and livestock activities themselves, degradation of animal and human health, conflict with wildlife, and degradation of already fragile biodiversity and ecosystems. Land deforested in this way loses its ability to absorb CO2 and mitigate climate change, inducing a downward spiral, most evident in arid and semi-arid assisted areas in the Chiredzi and Bikita districts. In these areas, land is communal, i.e., assigned for management by national authorities to local authorities and by them to communities: the limited technical and financial capacity of public actors to implement national environmental policies at local and community levels, such as the Land Degradation Neutrality Policy or the Climate Change Response Strategy, to plan for sustainable land use over the medium to long term, and to involve civil society inclusively in environmental governance, risks exac…

Goals

Sustainable Development Goals this project works towards

• 2Zero Hunger
• 8Decent Work and Economic Growth
• 13Climate Action
• 15Life on Land

Published by

AICS - Italian Agency for Cooperation and Development · Government

Countries

Zimbabwe

Sectors

Agricultural developmentForestry policy and administrative managementForestry development

Focus

Gender equality · Also contributesDisaster risk reduction · Also contributesEnvironment · Main focusGood governance · Also contributesBiodiversity · Also contributesClimate mitigation · Also contributesClimate adaptation · Main focusDesertification · Main focus

Funded by

AICS - Italian Agency for Cooperation and Development

Implemented by

CESVI FONDAZIONE ONLUS

Accountable

AICS - Italian Agency for Cooperation and Development

Published by AICS - Italian Agency for Cooperation and Development to the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI), last updated 6 Sept 2026 and imported automatically. IATI identifier: XM-DAC-6-4-013244-06-3.

No updates yet.