Forest landscape restoration

Background

The mission of the Collaborative Partnership on Forests – to promote the sustainable management of all types of forests – includes efforts to restore degraded and deforested lands. It recognizes that for forests to continue to play their critical role in stabilizing the earth’s climate, providing a home for threatened biodiversity, and supporting the livelihoods of some 1.6 billion people, we must collectively work to restore the extensive share of the global forest estate that has been lost or degraded over time. In April of 2017, CPF members approved a Joint Initiative (JI) on Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR). Through close cooperation with CPF members, the objectives of this JI were developed into a Global Environment Facility (GEF) - supported project, “Fostering Partnership to Build Coherence and Support for Forest Landscape Restoration,” approved by the GEF in June 2018.

Why this Joint Initiative on FLR?

This project positions the CPF to play a catalytic role in strengthening national and international support and engagement on FLR. It does so by making full use of the CPF’s role, unique membership, and position within the UN system to enhance coherence and effective engagement among CPF member FLR programs, to strengthen coherence and integration of FLR within national and international policy including REDD+ policies, and by facilitating the mobilization of additional and needed finance for FLR.

The initiative is helping to support effective implementation of the United Nations Strategic Plan for Forests 2017-2030 (UNSPF) and its six Global Forest Goals and associated targets, particularly Global Forest Goal 6, to “enhance cooperation, coordination, coherence and synergies on forest-related issues at all levels, including within the UN System and across CPF member organizations”. The UNSFP identifies CPF Joint Initiatives and joint programming as critical means for implementation of the UNSPF.

Key progress and achievements under this Joint Initiative

The project has made significant progress in advancing a number of initiatives and outputs and is on track towards achievement of anticipated impacts of strengthening national and international support and engagement on FLR.

Key achievements to date include the following:

• An international knowledge-sharing workshop, “Best Practices for Implementing FLR in South Asia,” was presented by IUFRO in Sri Lanka in August 2018.
• The comprehensive Guidelines for Forest Landscape Restoration in the Tropics, developed by the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO), were published in November 2020.
• A 10-module guide, “Turning restoration into a sustainable business: A guide to developing bankable business plans,” to assist associations and small producers in developing restoration business plans was developed by FAO. The guide is presently being piloted in Kenya and Zambia.
• “Restoring Landscapes Together,” a roundtable discussion and workshop on the private sector’s role in restoring Thailand’s forests was presented by the Thai Royal Forest Department, FAO and IUCN in Bangkok in February 2020. Over 40 leading private sector representatives attended this event that is supporting development of a sustainable forest financing strategy and mobilization of funding for FLR in Thailand.
• As a contribution to the study “The Economics of Ecosystem Restoration” (TEER), FAO, CBD and CIFOR developed a data collection tool for assessing benefits of ecosystem restoration initiatives. The tool is presently being piloted in the Sahel and other regions.
• An IUCN publication on linkages between SDGs and FLR, “Forest Landscape Restoration pathways to achieving the SDGs”, was developed for UNFF 14 and other important constituencies and events.
  

Looking ahead

The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has affected the timely delivery of a number of activities and the project has been extended to April 2021. Project partners are presently working to complete the remaining set of project activities.

Key work underway to be completed by project closure:

• Development of “bankable” FLR proposals in Thailand and Guinea Bissau, with support from UNFF and IUCN.
• An IUCN report, “Tackling global challenges by integrating Protected areas and Forest Landscape Restoration approaches,” identifying opportunities and recommendations for integrating protected areas and FLR initiative to achieve greater environmental and social outcomes.
• An FAO report on CPF-member forest landscape restoration programmes in 10 countries in Africa, identifying opportunities and providing recommendations for capture of synergies.
• An ICRAF-led workshop on capturing synergies from CPF member FLR initiatives in Kenya.
• An IUFRO- and ITTO-led workshop on innovative approaches and tools for FLR.
• A tool for assessing enabling conditions for private investment in FLR, developed by UNEP.
• Awareness-raising materials on the broader role of FLR and forests in addressing global challenges from UNDP.
  A number of high-level events and/or workshops promoting FLR for various constituencies, supported by CIFOR.
• A comprehensive synthesis report on experiences and findings under this JI and recommendations for moving forward on FLR from IUCN.

Contact

For additional inquiries and information on this Joint Initiative on FLR please contact the IUCN project coordinator, Joshua Schneck, at [email protected]