Interdisciplinary approach to reverse land degradation and restore terrestrial ecosystems in drylands : documenting the co-design of an international doctoral course

2026

Ouvrage

Rizzo Davide, Malam Issa Oumarou, Sougueh C., Léonard Eric, Daher A., Mohamed J.

Montpellier : CIHEAM, 2026, en ligne [7 p.]

IFSA2026 : Farming and Agri-Food Systems dynamics : facing crises and trade-offs in transition pathways, Montpellier (FRA), 2026/06/30-2026/07/03

Large-scale sustainable land management programmes addressing dryland degradation demand interdisciplinary approaches, yet academic training often reinforces disciplinary silos. This study documents the co-design of an international doctoral course utilising the Great Green Wall in Djibouti as a case study to foster epistemic integration among early-career researchers. Anchored in transformative learning theory, the methodology combined online theoretical framing with immersive, shared fieldwork across three contrasting sites, engaging sixteen PhD students and fourteen researchers in multicultural, multidisciplinary teams. The co-design process involved forty actors over one year, culminating in field-based landscape analysis, soil characterisation, and semi-structured interviews. Findings reveal that while shared fieldwork successfully disrupted silos and cultivated systemic interdisciplinary competencies, participants experienced tension between disciplinary habits and the need for integrated problem-framing, highlighting the necessity for stronger pre-field methodological guidelines. Crucially, the process catalysed an epistemic shift: participants moved beyond sectoral diagnostics to reframe sustainability as an integration of biophysical degradation and social marginalisation. Theoretically, this demonstrates that place-based, confrontational learning can bridge the divide between biophysical and sociotechnical perspectives, offering a relevant pedagogical model for addressing Sustainable Development Goal 15. Finally, the course emerges as an intermediary object that can inform the cross-sectoral framing of scientific diplomacy for land management research in the Sahel.

Environnement, écologie générale [021ENVECO] ; Erosion et conservation des sols [068EROSOL] ; Education [106EDUC] ; Politique scientifique et sociologie de la science [116RESCI]

Fonds IRD [F B010097827]

fdi:010097827