Welcome to this latest edition of the FLR Mechanism newsletter. Much has been happening in recent months in the world of landscape restoration and FAO continues to increase its active involvement and support to this global movement. New FAO-implemented projects will soon become operational, providing an opportunity for enhanced outreach and geographic expansion to help countries meet their restoration commitments under their NDC’s, the Bonn Challenge and related regional processes. Increased levels of multilateral and bilateral funding are enabling FAO and other development partners to more effectively deliver implementation support on-the-ground. This trend is not only welcome, but absolutely essential at a time when the connections between environment, conflict, migration, food security and other issues are becoming clearer and more explicit.

FAO has long promoted partnership as a key ingredient in its approach to sustainable development and food and nutrition security - and this holds true for our work in FLR. We are making significant progress in joining forces with institutions that share a common vision and goals related to landscape restoration, as evidenced not only by our collaborative work in the global and regional restoration initiatives that continue to evolve (e.g. the Global Partnership on Forest and Landscape Restoration, AFR100 in Africa and the 20x20 initiative in Latin America), but also through new consortia that are working together to design and implement projects at field level, some of which are mentioned in this newsletter. Although these initiatives are moving in the right direction, more is needed. We believe that greater efforts are required to pool our collective expertise and experience as development partners in order to support countries in a more coordinated and coherent manner that brings to bear our respective comparative advantages while reducing competition for financial resources and recognition. We are on the right track, but real collaboration still has a ways to go.

In this issue of the FLRM newsletter, we present results and outcomes of some recent events and processes that the FLR Mechanism has been supporting. These include: The Forest and Landscape Investment Forum, the Collaborative Roadmap for FLR Monitoring, a meeting on financing mechanisms for local investment in forest and landscape restoration, and a new project on Forest and Landscape Restoration and Sustainable Land Management in the Sahel. We also provide details on another important event that took place in Rome in early July - our annual FLRM Advisory Group meeting, that provides an opportunity for key partners to review our work and provide guidance for the future, including exploring areas in which we can partner more effectively. A few Advisory Group members were interviewed at the meeting and provided their views on the work of the FLR Mechanism. Those videos can be seen on the FLR Mechanism website.

As always, we appreciate your comments and feedback in order to make sure that this newsletter is providing valuable and useful of information on our work and FLR in general.

Finally, on behalf of my colleagues in the Forest and Landscape Restoration Mechanism, I would like to express special thanks to Anique Hillbrand, who recently ended her assignment with our group as an Associate Professional Officer supported by the German Government. Anique has provided invaluable support to our work in Latin America, related to the development and implementation of FLR National Plans in Guatemala and Peru, as well as FAO’s support to the regional 20x20 Initiative. She has also been instrumental in our work to enhance understanding the important role of agroforestry in FLR. Thank you, Anique, for all the support and goodwill you have shown as part of the FLRM team - we wish you the best of luck in the next phase of your career!