Welcome to the WAFLA website
WAFLA is a project created under the “Co-ordination Action” Instrument which is supported by the European Commission in the 6th Framework Program of Investigation promoting of the European Union.
The overall objective of WAFLA-Coordination Action is to coordinate and integrate the current scientific research, technological innovation and social and policy development activities, creating synergies to promote the adoption of integrated water resource management and improved agroforestry systems in order to propose feasible solutions to combat the advancing desertification and degradation of the arid and semi-arid ecosystems and to enhance rural development in Latin America.
An agroforestry and integrated water resource management expert and co-ordination platform will be established in a Latin American scope, as well as a network of expertise, which will encourage the unification of efforts for the development of agroforestry and integrated water management systems in arid and semi-arid areas, by pointing out the future research and the needed synergies in order to promote the uptake of these ancient resource management strategies in these fragile ecosystems.
- WAFLA Partners at the Final Conference - Santiago, Chile - January 2009
The WAFLA consortium is made up of 22 partners from European and Latin American countries with various background knowledge and expertise in fields ranging from forestry and agriculture research, to wastewater treatment, desertification and technology transfer. The partners involved have their general headquarters in Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Germany, Spain, France, The Netherlands and England.
- Agroforestry system in Ecuador
Some of the results so far comprise the development of the WAFLA country profiles, which include a throughout evaluation of the water resources management practices in Latin American selected regions as well as the documentation and evaluation of traditional agroforestry practices. Furthermore, a vast identification of key actors and stakeholders has allowed preparing the strategies for the dissemination of the results that will be strongly perceived in the following months of the project; meanwhile a review of the policy and legislative frame regarding water and soil management will allow the identification of effective policy measures.
The second year of WAFLA was devoted to the WP3 (Processing, marketing, trade and institutional frame) in which a marketing system of arid and semi-arid agroforestry products such as Algarrobo (Prosopis pallida), Leucaena (Leucaena leucocephala), Zábila (Aloe vera) and Cocuy (Agave cocuy) was designed and tested. Furthermore an identification of suitable agroforestry systems for different ecosystems was carried out considering climatic and soil conditions, adaptation of tree species, integration of local or native tree species in agroforestry systems, configuration of agroforestry systems, water use efficiency, cost for establishment, markets for agroforestry products, organizational structure for marketing, reduction of risk, and impact on livelihoods of farmers and rural poor.
- Agroforestry system in Zacatecas, Mexico
The International Conference "Improved Tools to Combat Desertification and Drought" - Integrated Agroforestry and Water Management Systems in arid and semi-arid areas in Latin America, was celebrated in Santiago, Chile, from the 21st to 23th of January 2009. This event was co-organised by Acción por la Tierra (EarthAction Santiago - EAN) and ECLAC, and supported by the WAFLA consortium, with the sponsorship of the European Commission under the 6th Framework Programme.
Currently the WAFLA consortium is finalizing the last awareness activities with stakeholders in Latin America, such as the workshops with authorities and communities. Furthermore, the team is preparing concept notes as part of a joint proposal which will be presented as WAFLA II for the continuation of the network. Finally, the team is preparing the recommendation for future research in the agroforestry field, as well as the reports of the activities carried out as part of the dissemination and extension work package.