Managing rural landscapes to sustain ecosystem services, nature and people

Dr Christine Negra, EcoAgriculture Partners

Ecosystem Services Partnership 2014San Jose, Costa RicaSeptember 10, 2014

Overview

●Describe a global initiative

●Share insights from recent projects on integrated landscape management (ILM)

●Offer a set of research priorities

www.landscapes.ecoagriculture.org

“LPFN” initiative

Objective: Promote integrated landscape management (ILM), for:

●Climate-resilient, diversified agriculture

●Secure access to food, fuel, fiber

●Ecosystem services and biodiversity

●Rural livelihoods and culture

LPFN ‘Value-Added’

●Document experiences across communities of practice●Synthesize diverse knowledge sets●Foster dialogue and action among diverse groups

Organization of LPFN Initiative●9 Co-organizers ●Many strategic

partners●6 working groups●Secretariat

(EcoAgriculture)

Co-Organizers

Strategic Partners

Working Groups

Secretariat

The LPFN Working Groups

ImprovingPolicy

Engaging Business

Mobilizing scientists

Outreach

Aligning Finance

Strengthening Landscapes

Some LPFN strategic partners

Integrated Landscapes: Key Features 1) Shared management objectives: multiple landscape

benefits 2) Community engaged in planning, negotiating and

monitoring decisions 3) Management practices deliver co-benefits at farm and

landscape scales4) Interactions among landscape components promote

synergies or mitigate trade-offs5) Markets and policies encourage multi-benefit landscapes

Testing a concept

Improved multi-stakeholder processes improved practices and policies increased multi-functionality in landscapes

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●Document activities and impacts of large, multi-stakeholder landscape initiatives

●Training and knowledge-sharing for landscape leaders

WG1: Strengthening Landscape Initiatives

WG2: Policy Support for Integrated Landscapes●Link high-level policy initiatives and landscape

actors

Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development

(GCARD 2)

IUCN World Conservation Congress

Nairobi International

Forum

Rio+20

Global Landscapes Forum / UNFCCC

Global Conference on Agriculture, Food

Security, and Climate Change

Committee for World Food Security

Climate-Smart Agricultural Global Science Conference

Sustainable Development Goals

●Understand when and why agribusinesses think – and act – at landscape scale

●Global scoping: 27 examples●3 in-depth case studies

WG3: Incorporating Landscape Approaches into Business Models

●Risks / rationales: Volatile market prices, farmer incomesDeclining production (climate, aging farmers)

Env’l risks (deforestation, GHGs, water)

●Modes of engagementSupply chain intervention (C.A.F.E. practices)

Regional producer support interventions (farmer loans)

Payments for Ecosystem Services (carbon payments)

Starbucks and Conservation Int’l: landscape approach to coffee in Mexico, Indonesia and Brazil

Reducing risk through landscape approaches

Source: Kissinger, G., A. Brasser, and L. Gross, 2013. Reducing Risk: Landscape Approaches to Sustainable Sourcing. Washington, DC. EcoAgriculture Partners, on behalf of the Landscapes for People, Food and Nature Initiative.

●Types of mechanisms and institutions?

●Barriers / opportunities for financing ILM?

●Global scoping: 29 cases

●3 in-depth case studies Atlantic Forest, Brazil Namaqualand, South

Africa Lake Naivasha, Kenya

WG4: Mobilizing finance / investment for ILM

Scoping ILM Finance

ILM Case Studies and Examples- Global Environment Facility - World Bank BioCarbon Fund- NICFI / NORAD- EcoEnterprises Fund- Moringa- Althelia - Bunge Environmental Markets- Agricultural Lending & Investment

- SAB Miller- Global Mechanism UNCCD- Verified Carbon Standard’s Jurisdictional and Nested REDD+ (JNR)- ForestRE- CGIAR Landscape Fund- Grasslands, LLC

WG5: Science and Knowledge to Support ILM●Strengthen

landscape science ●Mobilize scientific

support for landscape initiatives

●Mainstream landscape approach in research and knowledge networks

Integrated Landscape Initiatives in LAC Geographic distribution of surveyed ILIs

Surveyed 104 landscape

initiatives in 21 countries

Key findings●ILIs are truly multi-objective, multi-

stakeholder initiatives: > 9 objectives, 11 stakeholder groups, 4 sectors

on average

●ILIs with more objectives, years of experience, and participating stakeholder groups reported a greater number of outcomes

●Some policies and laws support, other hinder ILM

●Limited funding and intermittent / low stakeholder participation over the long term, particularly private sector and government

WG6: Key Stakeholders Aware of ILM Benefits

●Pool resources for advocacy and outreachLandscapes blog Op-edsMediaVideosEvents

Evidence base for ILMIntegrated, multi-disciplinary scientific research is essential to make agricultural landscapes more productive, sustainable, climate-resilient, and socially inclusive

Global Review Knowledge ProductsTrees and landscape restorationAgroecological intensification Climate-smart landscape

planningLinking climate change

mitigation & adaptation Benefits of agrobiodiversityImpact of eco-certification Water management in

landscapesLandscape governanceProducer movementsCity regions as landscapes

Research gaps

●Quantified benefits of ILM in different places / management contextse.g. yield, food security, well-being,

ecosystem services, biodiversity

●Linked farm- and landscape-scale data to compare ILM with BAUe.g. diversification, restoration

●Spatially-explicit understanding of how landscape elements interact and contribute to multi-functionality

●Agreed multi-scale landscape metrics to monitor outcomes

…and a few more research gaps

●Advance methods for combined study of human and ecosystem services dimensions• e.g. governance of

multifunctional landscapes

●Study interactions across highland-lowland and rural-urban gradients and transboundary resources

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er (C

IAT)

Roles for research networks (e.g. ESP)Transformative science●Broker collaboration among field and lab researchers

across a broad set of scientific disciplines to address complex challenges

●Showcase participatory action research that taps into the innovative capacity of farmers and communities

Broad support ●Build a business case for co-investment (by global

donors, businesses) in knowledge systems • e.g. seasonal forecasting, landscape ‘observatories’

●Work with ‘boundary organizations’ to communicate research recommendations to government, private sector, etc

ESP and LPFN

●LPFN WG5 = ESP working group on Rural & Cultivated Landscapes

●Session #48: ●Concepts from upcoming

paper on landscape science for sustainable rural development

●Plans for 2015 and beyond…

www.landscapes.ecoagriculture.orgblog.ecoagriculture.org

Thank you!