Authors: Colfer, C.J.P.; Sijapati Basnett, B.; Elias, M.

The case studies from Brazil, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guatemala, the Philippines and Viet Nam highlight how forest landscape restoration (FLR) interventions enhance food security. They illustrate the ‘win-win’ solutions that can enhance land functionality and productivity, develop resilient food systems and explore the long-term potential outputs and enabling conditions for FLR interventions.

Increasing demand for food, fiber and raw materials is putting more and more pressure on (often) fragile landscapes. Today, about one-fifth of all cultivated land suffers from some form of degradation, such as salinization, deforestation, erosion, excessive fertilizer use, waterlogging and poor nutrient availability (ELD Initiative 2015). Degradation often goes hand in hand with the worst poverty, affecting the lives, health and livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people.

The terms “landscape” and “landscape approach” have been increasingly applied within the international environmental realm, with many international organizations and nongovernmental organizations using landscapes as an area of focus for addressing multiple objectives, usually related to both environmental and social goals. However, despite a wealth of literature on landscapes and landscape approaches, ideas relating to landscape approaches are diverse and often vague, resulting in ambiguous use of the terms.

The deforestation-free movement (or “zero-deforestation”) has emerged recently in a context of lower state control, globalization and pressure on corporations by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) through consumer awareness campaigns, acknowledging the essential role of agricultural commodities in deforestation. It takes the form of commitments by corporations to ensure that the products they either produce, process, trade or retail are not linked to forest conversion.

This report examines the opportunities for undertaking forest-based climate change mitigation and adaptation activities in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in southern China. Particularly, it outlines how these activities could contribute to achieving the Convention on Biological Diversity’s (CBD) “Aichi Biodiversity Targets”.

The report confirms that mangroves are among the most carbon-rich ecosystems in the world and seeks to provide the basis for their sustainable management, conservation and restoration. It highlights the high ecological and economic values of mangroves, and the threats that exist across the region. (Executive summary in Spanish and French)

CIFOR Infobrief no. 77

Authors: Roe, D.; Sunderland, T.C.H

Research was conducted in Alutilla Valley in eastern Bangladesh to identify the nature of existing agroforestry systems and to identify potential agroforestry models that could ameliorate currently degrading forest resources Data were collected through farmer participatory research and a structured quarterly survey in two villages. Qualitative and supplementary quantitative analysis methods were used to assess the financial potential of agroforestry systems.

“Landscape approaches” seek to provide tools and concepts for allocating and managing land to achieve social, economic, and environmental objectives in areas where agriculture, mining, and other productive land uses compete with environmental and biodiversity goals. Here we synthesize the current consensus on landscape approaches. This is based on published literature and a consensus-building process to define good practice and is validated by a survey of practitioners.

The Voluntary Guidelines for the Sustainable Management of Natural Tropical Forests constitute an international reference document for the development and improvement of national and subnational guidelines for the sustainable management of natural tropical forests. They also provide a reference on technical issues at the macro (landscape) and micro (forest management unit) scales.