WINDHOEK: The Namibia Country Pilot Partnership Programme for Integrated Sustainable Land Management (CPP-NAM: ISLM Programme) in the Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET) will host a conference here next month.

The sustainable land and resource management conference will take place under the theme: From best practice modules to up-scaling for impact at a local hotel from 18 to 21 September 2012.

Land degradation as a result of overgrazing, soil erosion, bush encroachment on rangelands, irrigation and desertification, is considered a critical problem directly affecting livelihoods of, especially, rural communities across southern Africa.

The ISLM programme indicates that this presents serious challenges and threats to sustainable development within the region.

Agricultural ecosystems sustain human life on earth and directly provide livelihoods for over half of the world’s population made up of the poorest of the poor, such as subsistence farmers, fishermen and forest users.