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PATECORE:

Dr. Helmut W”hl, principal technical advisor for rural regional development at Germany's GTZ, discussed technical cooperation between Burkina Faso, CILSS and Germany in the Patecore Project. He described the high plateau ecosystem and the context within which desertification occurs. He outlined the experiences of two local NGO projects in improving local land use and noted both the problems faced and the solutions found. For example, there was a lack of coordination between the plan and the resource users, so a planning method was developed that adjusted to the farmers' abilities and knowledge of the surroundings. Lessons learned as a result of problems faced by NGOs included: control of man-made desertification must have a socio-economic emphasis; projects need integration for sustainable resource management at the community level; the capacity of resource users must be strengthened; there must be a short-term economic benefit; a framework for solving land tenure problems must be created; traditional knowledge must be incorporated in planning and implementation; country capacity building has to be intensified by ensuring availability of knowledge at all levels; and population-related aspects have to be included in the planning process.