Stakeholders would like to see a second phase of the project, to allow an adequate closure of project activities and to ensure institutions are able to assimilate the important level of investment deployed since the project´s Substantive Revision. There is interest from northeastern states and capacities in place to continue the preservation and sustainable management of the Caatinga biome.

It is recommended to follow up on budget plans at the state level. The challenge now lies in the capacity of the institutions to ensure good spending and documented impact.

It is important to build an institutional route that provides clarity on the competencies of the MMA, and that allows scaling up to the national level what has been worked on at the regional level through the project and other interventions

For future projects it is important to evaluate the possibility to incorporate state governments as responsible parties to execute some project activities to further build institutional capacities and deconcentrate risk from federal agencies.

Future projects implementing activities at the state and municipal scales, should consider a more balanced distribution of the PMU between Brasilia and the state or place where activities are implemented.

Cofinancing should be monitored systematically, with tools that allow periodic reporting of the progress in terms of resource mobilization against original commitments.

It is recommended that the implementation of Law No. 8785 (State Policy to Combat Desertification - PECD) be monitored to verify compliance, otherwise there is a risk that it will remain on paper.

It is important to follow up on the status of the INCRA credit lines and the environmental fines conversion instrument promoted by the project.

Since the project developed material for online training, it is recommended to take advantage of the inputs generated to continue capacity building remotely with farmers and interested families in Sergipe.

It is essential that the closure of the project is used to generate a repository of all the information generated, and that a way is found to ensure that it can continue to be used and made available after project closure. 

Often, an accelerated project closure process means that many activities implemented at the end may have a low capacity for assimilation by partners and beneficiaries. It is necessary for UNDP to accompany the closing processes of pending consultancies and to commit state authorities to assume key roles and responsibilities are in place to ensure sustainability.

Regarding the exit strategy that has been developed, it is important to formalize the follow up commitments of actors or partners to fund and technically support the implementation of SLM practices or the implementation of the State Policy to Combat Desertification in Sergipe.