This side event took place at the XV World Forestry Congress on 3 May 2022. Over the past decade, countries have made significant commitments (including the Bonn Challenge and AFR100) to restore thousands of hectares of degraded forests and landscapes around the globe by 2030, which highlights the political will and engagement for forest and landscape restoration (FLR). In order to effectively achieve these targets, often set at the regional or national level, governments need to foster an enabling environment to guide the actual implementation of restoration interventions on the ground. 

The Forest and Landscape Restoration Mechanism (FLRM) of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) organized an event at the XV World Forestry Congress in Seoul, Republic of Korea, for countries to share their experiences of developing FLR strategies or action plans at the national or decentralized level. Tiina Vahanen, Deputy Director of FAO Forestry Division, highlighted in her opening remarks the urgent need to translate those commitments into action on the ground, adding that this was exactly what the FLRM had been supporting.  

During the event, several countries, such as Kenya, Malawi and Vanuatu, shared insights and experiences about how they had all undertaken inclusive stakeholder consultations to develop strategies or action plans to scale up FLR.  

Godfrey Bome, Acting Director of the Department of Forests of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Forestry, Fisheries and Biosecurity, shared about the process behind how different sectors had come together to promote a holistic integrated landscape approach, and develop the national Forest Landscape Restoration Strategy 2020–2030. He talked about the importance and key objectives of the strategy, which will have positive socioeconomic and environmental impacts for all sectors and community members.  

Rose Akombo from the Kenya Forest Service explained how the ambitious Kenya Forest and Landscape Restoration Implementation Plan 2022–2026 (FOLAREP) had been developed in strong consultation with the county governments and stakeholders to help achieve the national commitment to restore 5.1 million ha by 2030. The objectives of the FOLAREP include strengthening policy implementation, institutional coordination and governance mechanisms, actively restoring degraded lands while improving local livelihoods, strengthening research and integrated monitoring, and enhancing the mobilization of both public and private resources.  

On behalf of the Malawi Government, Priscah Munthali from FAO Malawi described the process of developing a national FLR strategy. In 2015, to respond to many biophysical (e.g. land and forest degradation, and decreasing land productivity) and socioeconomic challenges (e.g. decreasing resilience of rural households to climate change), Malawi initiated the development of an FLR strategy. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the World Resources Institute (WRI) supported the government through a participatory stakeholder process to collect the necessary data and information using the Restoration Opportunities Assessment Methodology (ROAM). The strong linkage between the FLR strategy and the National Development Goals was also key for ensuring implementation by the different stakeholders at national and local level.  

Several countries, such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Pakistan, presented their experiences of using a downscaled ROAM to guide the development of local district or provincial strategies. Floribert Mbolela, FAO Coordinator for The Restoration Initiative project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, shared the process and importance of developing a provincial FLR strategy for South Kivu. This was supported by the WRI following a participatory ROAM to identify where restoration interventions were needed and how best to implement them. This exercise was a first for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and when upscaled to other provinces, it will assist the country in achieving the commitment it has made of restoring 8 million ha of degraded lands. 

Faizul Bari, FAO Coordinator for The Restoration Initiative project in Pakistan, described how an FLR strategy was developed at the district level following a localized ROAM with the support of IUCN, and how this had contributed to the Ten Billion Tree programme. Inclusive stakeholder consultations were key for promoting an integrated land-use planning approach, and for gathering local knowledge and ensuring local buy-in, which will support the long-term sustainability of the proposed restoration interventions. Faizul also shared some key project achievements, namely 480 ha put under assisted natural regeneration and the planting of over 300 000 forest and fruit trees linked to the development of associated livelihood opportunities.  

The side event demonstrated the diversity of approaches linked to the variety of local contexts and the strong need to bring sectors together at national and local level in order to effectively plan for, implement and monitor restoration interventions. 

You can watch the recording of the session here. 

Benjamin DeRidder (FAO)