WOCAT World Map

A global map presenting Soil and Water Conservation achievements

Over the past ten years, the World Overview of Conservation Approaches and Technologies (WOCAT) programme has been carried out through national and regional initiatives in countries interested in using the WOCAT tools for the documentation, evaluation and exchange of knowledge on soil and water conservation (SWC). Significant progress has been made in documenting SWC Technologies and Approaches. Besides, efforts have been undertaken to map the extent and effectiveness of SWC measures at national and local scales showing where water, soil and vegetation are used sustainably (-> map database). Recent requests, e.g. by the National Geographic Society, indicate that there is also a need to present a global overview (the original objective of WOCAT!) of achievements in preventing and combating degradation. Besides the more detailed mapping WOCAT activities at (sub)country level, WOCAT recently launched an initiative to ask national soil and water conservation experts to provide geographical information on the most important SWC technologies in their country. The aim of the new initiative is to create a small-scale world map where SWC achievements are shown with a symbol in different sizes indicating the area coverage, and colours and shapes showing land use, degradation and conservation type. Each of the main SWC types will be illustrated by photos and a brief text. The map will be updated regularly to show the progress of data collection and SWC achievements. Each of the countries that provided information will be listed.

The map below is a first rough draft of how SWC achievements could be presented (the exact layout will be a discussion topic in the coming annual WOCAT workshop). It shows examples of SWC technologies in three main categories*: agronomic (e.g. minimum tillage), vegetative / management (e.g. grass strips, agroforestry, enclosure), and structural measures (e.g. terraces). The map also illustrates in which countries SWC technologies have already been presented in the WOCAT database (orange countries) and where preliminary data is available (yellow countries).

Click on the map to enlarge!

Please also see the new draft of the WOCAT world map on the WOCAT website from South Africa on www.agis.agric.za! Click on 'WOCAT' - 'WOCAT dynamic maps' - 'World map'.

We would highly appreciate if you could provide information on the most important SWC technologies in your country by filling in the form and, if possible, add photographs, and send both to WOCAT, Centre for Development and Environment, Steigerhubelstr. 3, CH - 3008 Berne, Switzerland or by email to WOCAT. An indication of the numbers of technologies to be described per country is as follows:

• Up to 2 SWC technologies for small countries such as Lesotho, Nicaragua, Rwanda, Switzerland, …
• Up to 4 SWC technologies for medium-sized countries such as Niger, Peru, South Africa, Tanzania, Thailand, …
• Up to 8 SWC technologies for large countries such as Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, India, Russia, USA, …

Thank you very much for your contribution!