CIFOR Initiative Shifting the landscape

THINKING beyond the canopyTHINKING beyond the canopy

LANDSCAPE INITIATIVES AT CIFORPrana Dewi, Bali, 14th May 2009

THINKING beyond the canopy

Centre for International Forestry Research

• One of 15 CGIAR centres• Headquarters in Bogor, Indonesia and regional

offices in Vietnam, Brazil, Cameroon, Burkina Faso and Zambia

• Works in more than 30 countries throughout the tropics

• 50 research staff and around 250 collaborators in partner organizations, mostly in developing countries

• Funding from around 40 governments, foundations & international agencies


• Places where scientists are based

Presence

Where are we working??

• Places where research associates are based


We advance human wellbeing, environmental conservation and equity by conducting research to inform policies and practices that affect forests in developing countries.

CIFOR’s [new] purpose


New 10-year Strategy 2008-2018: Six Research ‘Domains’

• Domain 1: Climate change mitigation• Domain 2: Climate change adaptation• Domain 3: Small-scale/community forestry• Domain 4: Managing the trade-offs between

conservation and development at the landscape scale

• Domain 5: Trade and investment• Domain 6: Sustainable forest management


“CIFOR’s goal [within this domain] is to shift policy and practice toward conservation and

development approaches at the landscape scalethat are more effective, efficient and equitable in

process and outcome”

Goal of Domain 4


Research Outputs

• Output 1: Methods for assessing and monitoring environmental services at landscape level

• Output 2: Optimizing conservation and development values within forest landscapes

• Output 3: Improved modalities and approaches to effectively support conservation in forest landscapes


Why ‘landscapes’?

• Forests support ca. 65% of worlds terrestrial taxa, hence are important focus for conservation• Traditional emphasis has been on protected areas & reserves• However ca. 92% of world’s forests remain OUTSIDE PA’s• Hence considerable biodiversity in commodity and production forests• “Landscape approach” has become increasingly important


Core Challenges

• Large body of literature on landscape approaches but little consensus on applicability

• General principles, guidelines and broad considerations have been largely missing

• However, need to avoid “one size fits all” approach

• Complex landscapes; complex challenges


Landscape Mosaics Project:Objective and expected outputs

• Integrating Livelihoods and Multiple Biodiversity Values in Landscape Mosaics

How to measure and prioritize landscape functions and “values” in terms of livelihoods, supply of goods (markets) and services (biodiversity) and governance?

Outputs:• Tools: SIMPLE (but holistic) sets of tools/principles:

contribution of tree/forest covers to livelihoods, markets and environmental services (biodiversity) at a landscape scale; governance and institutions

• Action: Launching/supporting sustainable collaborative planning processes (recommendations on selected LUP)

• Tools + action: Action research approach…


5 sites (and some partner sites)

LaosCameroon

Landscape Mosaics sites

IndonesiaMadagascarTanzania


Core challenge: different sites, different issues, …


Pathways for change? • Livelihoods: What kind of socio-economic or environmental changes have

occurred, and what opportunities and/or threats did these impose?

• Governance: How do current governance arrangements at local and district levels they influence the ability to reconcile diverse stakeholder interests as well as livelihoods and biodiversity conservation?

• Payments, rewards for ES (including REDD): What, if any, is the potential role for conditional incentives to conserve biodiversity and resolve conflicts between forestry, agroforestry and agricultural land uses?

• Landscape patterns and processes: How does the spatial configuration of tree cover contribute to the maintenance of tree diversity and useful and endangered species?

What is the effect of accessibility (physical and institutional) on patterns of exploitation and the availability of selected resources?


Preliminary observations from our sites

• Governance and land use planning remain weak especially without project-led interventions

• LUP discussions can benefit from simple collaborative/planning tools (e.g. visioning exercises)

• Still few compensations/incentives for conservation, but interest in certification and REDD

• Past trends in terms of forest/tree cover: eradication of forest patches, monocultures preferred to agroforests…

• How to achieve sustainability when donor driven??


New project: Shifting the Landscape Initiative

• Domain 4 target: Large NGOs and Development agencies

• More and more “landscape approaches” –e.g. GPFLR… PROFOR, UNFF, etc.

• Is it old wine in new bottles?• Let’s try to analyse what works, what doesn’t,

and to bring promising tools into a manual (build on guidelines!)


Shifting the Landscape Initiative: Two key questions

• How does current scholarship on multi-level socio-political ecological systems relate to the discipline of landscape ecology?

• How can current scholarship on landscapes be transformed so that it is more relevant for use by practitioners?


• Develop a network of practitioners and sites in order to share information and experiences about landscape approaches and management;

• Conduct a systematic review of landscape approaches in order to inform best practice methods for future interventions and form a consensus on the essential principles and practices that underpin landscape approaches;

• Find and analyse the linkages between the science and practice of integrated landscape management; and

• Foster a dialogue about what the minimum scientific information is required in order to catalyse adaptive landscape management.

Objectives

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THINKING beyond the canopy19


Outputs

• Operational network of practitioners and sites• Scientific articles and symposia ant

international events and processes: the identification of research gaps; and,

• Meta-tool and manual (and training) for practitioners.


Getting the message out…


Partners

• Wageningen Agricultural University• IUCN• WWF• Intercooperation• The University of Queensland• ICRAF

Now we just need funding!!!

THINKING beyond the canopyTHINKING beyond the canopy

The Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) is one of the 15 centres supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR)

Thank you! www.cifor.cgiar.org

CIFOR Initiative Shifting the landscape

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