In this issue of the FLRM newsletter we present results and outcomes of some of the recent events and processes that the FLR Mechanism has been supporting. These include: the Fifth Mediterranean Forest Week that took place in late March in Agadir, Morocco, during which our friends and colleagues from the CBD Secretariat organized an event in the context of the Forest Ecosystem Restoration Initiative (FERI) on progress toward the Aichi Biodiversity Targets; country support to Cambodia for achieving their FLR goals, with a particular focus on sustainable financing for FLR; and information on the upcoming FLRM events in Rome in early July, including the annual FLRM Advisory Group meeting and two important technical expert meetings on FLR monitoring and FLR financing at the local level. 

The issue of sustainable financing for FLR is receiving increasing attention as countries realize that figuring out how to pay for restoration is going to be a key factor in how successful they are in the long run. The FLR Mechanism continues to prioritize sustainable financing as a key area of our work, building on our strong collaboration with the Global Mechanism of the UNCCD that led to the publication in late 2015 of the discussion paper and policy brief on Sustainable Financing for Forest and Landscape Restoration. One of our major recent activities in this area was the organization of the Forest and Landscape Investment Forum (FLIF) that recently took place in Kigali, Rwanda as a sub-regional event connecting investors with restoration practitioners from throughout Eastern and Southern Africa. More than 250 participants attended and the results far exceeded expectations. Based on the event’s popularity and success and building on the lessons learned, the FLRM plans to organize similar events in other regions and countries in the future. You’ll be able to read more about the FLIF in the next edition of the FLRM newsletter. In this edition you will learn more about the expert meeting on financing mechanisms for local investment in FLR to be held 13-14 July 2017, immediately following the annual FLRM Advisory Group meeting. 

The FLR Mechanism is also moving forward with our support to restoration monitoring. The FLR Monitoring roadmap that resulted from the international expert meeting held at FAO in April 2016 continues to guide the work being carried out by several GPFLR partners that aims to help countries determine the most appropriate arrangements for their particular setting and to carry out effective monitoring that will enable them to gauge their own progress at meeting national or international targets and goals to which they have committed. The expert meeting scheduled at FAO in early July 2017 will be an opportunity to assess the progress we’ve made in further developing and implementing the collaborative roadmap and in providing our support as GPFLR partners and other involved institutions to country efforts for FLR monitoring. It will cover the five activity streams that are defined under the roadmap, i.e. development of a guidance document for FLR monitoring; developing an interactive FLR knowledge platform; forming and supporting technical alliances, mechanisms and networks to support effective FLR processes in countries (including monitoring); creating a community of learning for FLR monitoring; and forming an innovation hub to harness contributions from the science, technology and innovation communities. The guidance document mentioned under the first stream is progressing nicely with strong support being provided by the World Resources Institute that, together with FLRM staff, has produced the first draft that is now under review and discussion. We are also exploring new opportunities to more fully collaborate with the process underway for LDN monitoring and reporting under SDG 15.3, to ensure a consistent and harmonized approach to restoration monitoring at country level.

I hope you find this issue of the FLRM newsletter both informative and interesting. We welcome your feedback in making this information tool a relevant and useful source of FLR information and support.

Doug McGuire

(FAO - Coordinator, FLR Mechanism)