#Project #Mission
As part of a GEF-7 initiative in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), SETIN carried out a technical mission to support the national process towards Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) and the definition of Sustainable Land Management priorities at national and state level. The mission was coordinated by Viola Fonnesu, as SETIN’s technical lead, in close collaboration with the Department of Environment, Climate Change & Emergency Management (DECEM) of FSM and relevant national and state-level stakeholders.
The mission included a national inception workshop, followed by state-level workshops in Pohnpei, Chuuk, Kosrae and Yap. These sessions brought together representatives from government institutions, utilities, civil society organizations and traditional leadership structures to discuss the main drivers of land degradation, validate preliminary analyses and identify priority areas for intervention.
Through a participatory and spatially oriented approach, stakeholders contributed to the identification of land degradation hotspots and to the formulation of responses aligned with the LDN hierarchy: avoid, reduce and restore. This process helped connect technical analysis with local knowledge, community priorities and the realities of customary land governance.
Discussions highlighted the combined pressure of climate-related and human-induced drivers, including sea-level rise, saltwater intrusion, extreme rainfall, drought, deforestation, unsustainable agricultural practices, infrastructure development and waste management challenges. These pressures directly affect land conditions, ecosystem resilience and community livelihoods across FSM.
The mission also explored the link between LDN, spatial planning, climate resilience and ecosystem restoration, identifying opportunities to strengthen policy alignment and improve coordination across sectors and institutions. Particular attention was given to SDG indicator 15.3.1, including the monitoring of land cover (LC), land productivity (LP) and soil organic carbon (SOC).
In parallel, consultations confirmed important gaps in GIS capacity, geospatial data availability and data management, reinforcing the need for targeted capacity building to support evidence-based planning and long-term land condition monitoring.
Overall, SETIN’s mission laid the groundwork for the development of national and state-level Sustainable Land Management Action Plans (SAPs), supporting more coordinated, inclusive and climate-resilient land management in the Federated States of Micronesia.
