CIFOR redoubles efforts to promote sustainable Ghanaian landscapes

Ghanaian landscapes are marked by multiple and competing resource frontiers, from the cocoa-forests and oil palm belts in the high-forest zone (HFZ) to converging shea parklands and pastoral lands of the northern savannah. 
 

Widespread mining and complex tenure arrangements overlay, and sometimes further undermine, efforts to design long-vision resource management plans.

With the aim to address these issues, the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) has launched two new projects to support collaborative and multi-stakeholder approaches to landscape planning in Ghana.

Presented during an event held at the Global Landscapes Forum in Accra, these initiatives will operationalize the landscape approach and support better governance.

The first project, Operationalizing the Landscape Approach for Biodiversity Benefit: Policy, Practice and People (COLANDS) is expected to close the gap between strong scientific theory about landscape approaches and weak implementation.

“This is a pioneering program, as its five-year time frame means that we can establish a long-term engagement by facilitating the use of landscape approaches, observing stakeholders – especially people living in these landscapes – and then reporting on the results”, said James Reed, CIFOR Scientist.

COLANDS aims to capture successful elements of landscape approaches to develop a scalable model for adoption elsewhere.

The second project, Governing Multifunctional Landscapes (GML) takes an alternative, jurisdictional approach to landscape governance at agro-commodity and resource frontiers.

“We are working through partnerships to mobilize multi-stakeholder platforms and negotiate jurisdictional priorities for forest protection and climate-smart agriculture for multiple commodities, including cocoa, oil palm, citrus, and rubber”, explained Emily Gallagher, CIFOR Scientist.

GML will convene platforms in two jurisdictions adjoining the Atewa Range Forest Reserves in southeastern Ghana: Kwaebibirem Municipality and Atiwa West District to build the business case and action pathways for climate-smart development.

COLANDS is part of the International Climate Initiative (IKI) and is funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU). GML is funded by the Directorate General for International Cooperation and Development from the European Commission (DG DEVCO).

Global experts meet in Nairobi to advance landscape restoration in Africa

Finding solutions to meet the challenge of landscape restoration in Africa, where almost 50 million hectares of land is degraded each year, is a complex challenge requiring an innovative, coordinated, international response, says a top forestry expert who will speak at an upcoming conference in Nairobi.

Over 800 multi-sector stakeholders from across Africa and around the world will meet in Nairobi, along with at least 30,000 people online, at the Prospects and Opportunities for Restoration in Africa Global Landscapes Forum (GLF) at UN Environment headquarters in Nairobi later in August.

“Africa’s landscape must be restored to ensure the natural resource needs of the continent’s rapidly expanding population will one day be met, but there is no silver bullet,” cautioned Robert Nasi, director general of the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), co-coordinator of GLF with UN Environment and the World Bank.

The event will highlight many current landscape restoration initiatives and help set the stage for many more, demonstrating how countries are building on political will through actions on the ground to tackle land degradation.

Although annually Africa loses about 2.8 million hectares of forest, an area roughly the size of Saudi Arabia, the continent shows immense potential for landscape restoration. In total, two thirds of the continent’s land mass is degraded, according to World Resources Institute.

“Africa’s population growth protections are one key aspect of the challenge,” said Erik Solheim, executive director of UN Environment, who will speak at the Nairobi event. “Another is that many parts of the world will be looking to Africa for food production. The key challenge is therefore how do you provide for job creation and increased food production, and protect the environment? The answer is of course proper land-use planning.”

Local communities have restored more than 5 million ha of degraded landscapes across the continent, while more than 20 nations have pledged to restore 100 million ha of forest by 2030 through the African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative (AFR100).

At GLF Nairobi 2018, delegates representing governments, international and grassroots organizations, the financial and private sector, indigenous communities and youth will draw upon these initiatives to pave the way forward in making forest and landscape restoration a reality.

Dialogues will take the shape of discussion forums, plenaries, online webinars and Landscape Talks, similar to TED Talks, while exciting side events, exhibitions and scientific report launches will celebrate Africa’s work in restoration and inspire action across sectors.

The event offers invaluable opportunities for stories and interviews related to restoration and environmental concerns. In addition to Nasi and Solheim, other key speakers include: Wanjira Mathai, chair of the Green Belt Movement; Hindou Ibrahim, National Geographic explorer and advocate for indigenous knowledge and rights; officials from environmental and forestry ministries across Africa, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the Rainforest Alliance and many more.

Global Landscapes Forum to Urge Action on Forests and Farming at Paris Climate Talks

Ghana’s former President, John Agyekum Kufuor, is among high-profile speakers to address the Global Landscapes Forum – one of the most important side events at the climate change talks in Paris in December.

The Forum, which holds on December 5-6 is devoted to forests and farming, is expected to draw 2,500 leaders from business, government, civil society, local communities and think tanks from across five continents: Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and North America.

More than a dozen new government and corporate commitments, innovative research and cutting-edge tools focused on ending emissions from forests, fields and waterways will be launched at the event

Leaders from African countries will announce a major new initiative to restore forests and agricultural lands. The R100 is a pan-African, country-led restoration effort to bring degraded landscapes in Africa under restoration by 2030.

The event will focus on all aspects of land use, which is expected to attract high-level attention at this year’s talks. National climate pledges submitted to the UN in advance of the negotiations have been criticized for not including enough on forests and farming.

Yet the sector lies at the heart of most Sustainable Development Goals, including those focused on food, water, green growth, biodiversity, climate and energy. In addition, bold commitments by companies—especially those engaged in agricultural commodities—and countries to protect and restore natural resources have continued to buoy prospects for action on forests and farms.

Participants at the Forum will pool their knowledge in search of practical ways to overcome the economic, social and political barriers to achieving land use goals. Debates will scrutinize corporate “zero deforestation” commitments and government-level land restoration pledges.

They’ll dissect barriers to unlocking finance. And they’ll analyze persistent practices that marginalize indigenous people, women, and youth.