Samoa's Aligned National Action Programme to combat land degradation and mitigate the effects of drought 2015 - 2020.

The Samoa's Aligned National Action Programme to combat land degradation and mitigate the effects of drought is a national policy with a multi-sectoral approach. The timeframe of the policy is 5 years between 2015 and 2020. The main purpose of the policy is to develop and implement effective strategies and actions to establish a strong culture of sustainable land management practices that contribute to achieving the sustainability of land development objectives.
An integrated national framework will be established to guide relevant policies, programmes and measures that will promote and support multi-sectoral partnership to prevent, control and reverse land degradation and mitigate the effects of drought, while increasing land productivity and ecosystem services in affected areas, through raising public awareness, aligning relevant policies, to increase scientific and technological knowledge on land degradation and drought, building capacities in the community, mobilizing resources, thereby contributing to poverty reduction, improving livelihoods and improving future resilience. This NAP aims at reversing land degradation and mitigating the effects of drought through the adoption of sustainable land management practices to achieve an improvement in the conditions of affected populations and ecosystems in Samoa. The living the conditions of the high priority urban and rural populations that are severely affected by land degradations and droughts will be improved, including an increase in the food security and income generation capabilities of the affected populations. Agricultural lands, key biodiversity areas and catchments which are the most vulnerable ecosystems and landscapes will be protected from the effects of land degradation and droughts. In order to increase the resilience and decrease the socio-economic and environmental vulnerability in the future, their conditions will be improved by addressing (I) the potential decline in soil quality of agricultural lands due to the prolong exposure of these lands to the use of agrochemicals and overuse; (II) the loss of biodiversity and (III) the decline in the quality of ecological services of affected key biodiversity areas and catchments due to deforestation, cultivation, invasive species and severe weather conditions. The unique indigenous species and ecosystems of global value will be protected to increase their contribution to increasing global benefits. The mobilization of individual, institutional and community resources will be increased for addressing land degradation and increasing land productivity in priority affected populations.