Abstract

Combating soil erosion requires holistic approaches that improve land tenure systems and protect land rights. Good land governance is a key variable that enables long-term investments in land. Integrated-farm planning supports sustainable production increases and enables farmers to develop a vision for development. Combining these two factors can lead to approaches that create synergies and provide for long-term sustainability based on tenure security and growth. This paper presents such an approach, based on experiences from Burundi. It provides details on two tested approaches for creating sustainable land tenure systems and peer-learning systems for improved agricultural practices, which combined and integrated with a strong soil protection component can provide a sustainable, comprehensive manner to tackle the challenge of human induced soil erosion in Burundi and elsewhere. The paper provides insights from the work of one Netherlands-based NGO and its partners in Burundi.