Operationalising the landscape approach: Josh van Vianen, James Reed, Jos Barlow, Terry Sunderland

Forestry for sustainable future: The role of integrated landscape approaches

Journalists workshop 15-18th November 2016, Bali

What are landscape approaches

and how effectively have they been implemented in the

tropics?

Global issues felt at all scales

• Poverty: 900 million people surviving on less than $1.90 per day • Food insecurity: 795 million people remain

undernourished globally • Biodiversity loss: Multiple drivers of ongoing

biodiversity loss • Climate change: pervasive overarching issue

• Continued rise in CO2 emissions and increasing frequency of extreme events

(Integrated) Landscape Approach frameworks

Landscape approaches are the latest in an evolution of

integrated attempts to reconcile C&D.

1980s 1990s 2000s 2010 -

present

1980s: Integrated Rural Development 1998: Integrated

Natural Resource Management (INRM)

1985 onwards: Integrated Conservation & Development projects (ICDPs)

Contributing Sciences: Ecosystem Management Landscape Ecology Island biogeography

Conservation rooted frameworks e.g. “Ecosystem Approach”

1992: “Landscape Approach” first documented (Barrett 1992)

Landscape approaches: integrated solutions at landscape scales

• Is a Framework to integrate policy and practice for competing land uses through adaptive and integrated management systems

• Aims to address global challenges of Poverty, food insecurity, climate change and biodiversity loss

• Addresses inter-connected social, environmental, economic and political challenges

• Uses participatory, inclusive negotiation and planning to minimize trade-offs and maximize synergies

See: Reed et al. 2016 - Integrated landscape approaches to managing social and environmental issues in the tropics: learning from the past to guide the future

Where are landscape approaches being

implemented?

1 (5 countries represented) 2 (1)

3 (2) 4 (1)

Unpublished

Theory: what we found

Broad agreement

• Evaluating progress within a landscape is fundamental to determining where gains or losses are being made

• Governance structures that are hybrid, multi-level and cross-sectoral are best suited to these frameworks

• One size doesn’t fit all and we must acknowledge the need for contextualisation

• Inclusive, participatory stakeholder negotiation can help align local socio-cultural and global environmental concerns

• Acknowledgement of dynamic processes and perverse outcomes

See: Reed et al. 2016 - Integrated landscape approaches to managing social and environmental issues in the tropics: learning from the past to guide the future

Factors influencing “success”

Why aren’t there more landscape

approaches being implemented in

practice? Barriers to implementation:

• Ongoing development of theory may be stimulating time lags

• The proliferation of terms associated with landscape approaches may be impeding policy and practice progress

• Operating silos persist at all levels and scales

• Engaging multiple stakeholders is sometimes just seen as a box-ticking exercise to satisfy project requirements

• Monitoring remains the least well developed area of landscape approach application

Conclusions

The theory of landscape approaches is well developed

Lack of implementation on the ground

Landscape approaches need to be processes not projects

Now is the time to put theory into practice and test how these frameworks will work going forward

Thanks for listening!

For further information:

Josh van Vianen: j.vanvianen@cgiar.org

Terry Sunderland: t.sunderland@cgiar.org