Strengthening the Capacity of National Project teams and sharing best lessons

The Second Global Capacity-Building Workshop of The Restoration Initiative  (TRI) was held at FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy from 7 to 11 October 2019. TRI unites 10 Asian and African countries and three Global Environment Facility agencies – the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the UN Environment Program (UNEP) – in working to overcome existing barriers to restoration and restore degraded landscapes at scale in support of the Bonn Challenge.

The workshop, organized by the FAO-FLRM team, mainly aimed at strengthening the capacity of national TRI project teams and sharing experiences and best lessons learned during the first year of the implementation of TRI national projects. More than 70 participants attended different sessions dedicated to various tools and thematic areas related to Forest and Landscape Restoration (FLR).  

Mette Wilkie, the Director of Forestry Policy and Resources Division, in her opening remarks, reminded participants about the upcoming 2021-2030 UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, which aims to accelerate existing restoration initiatives from initial pilot areas  to areas covering millions of hectares. She emphasized that for this Decade to be successful, it is important to build on existing restoration expertise, and to use the knowledge and skills from this workshop to become champions of change on Ecosystem Restoration.

The objectives of this workshop were formulated based on the recommendations and needs received from TRI national project teams during the previous event held in Naivasha, Kenya in February 2019. Based on the need for targeted capacity building, the workshop format provided the participants ample time to follow a variety of technical trainings. The content of these sessions was tailored to meet their capacity needs on different thematic areas and key tools that are of paramount importance to achieving the restoration commitments made by their countries. The FLRM team coordinated with over 25 experts from both within and outside of FAO to make this capacity building a success.

The topics covered in the parallel sessions were related to:

• Carbon estimates with the EX-ACT tool;
• Collect Earth and Sepal used for Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E);
• The Restoration Opportunities Assessment Methodology (ROAM);
• Local financing instruments and Incentives for Ecosystem Services (IES);
• Forest Genetic Resources (FGR) that discussed about the role of genetic diversity in the context of FLR;
• Gender-Responsive FLR which highlighted why and how to consider gender issues in planning and implementing FLR interventions;
• FPIC (Free, Prior and Informed Consent) which ensures that the indigenous peoples’ rights and concerns are mainstreamed into FLR planning and implementation and demonstrated this as a best practice for local communities engagement;
• Threat Abatement and Recovery (STAR) tool which allows for estimating/quantifying impact of FLR on biodiversity
• Key aspects on how to design Policy Influencing Plans (PIP)

These training sessions provided participants with adequate skills and knowledge to set the stage for future planning of restoration activities and more advanced capacity building workshops at national or sub-national levels or where it is possible at landscape levels. It was also a great opportunity for participants to have bilateral discussions with different technical experts from FAO, IUCN, UNEP, Bioversity International, and WRI for potential support relevant to their project or country. The trainers confirmed their continuous support to provide more assistance to national teams when deemed necessary through advanced training at national level or online support to address some of their concerns.

Moreover, participants had the opportunity to take part in the field visit to the Model Forest of the Aterno Valley, Sirente Velino Natural Park, in Abruzzo (Italy). The purpose of this field trip was to demonstrate that the concept of forest restoration goes beyond tree planting, and that it can serve as a mean to connect people and nature across sectors and institutions and to maintain the livelihoods of communities. On the side of the host, the Model Forest team and the Mayors of local municipalities it was a very special and emotional moment to welcome people from more than 20 nationalities visiting their project, on the other side of participants they were interested to discover new approaches that they can replicate back home.   

Participants pointed out that skills and knowledge gained in this workshop will guide them in their day-to-day activities of the projects as well as in planning for future FLR interventions. The next third TRI Global workshop will be organized by UNEP and will take in place in 2020.

For more information contact: [email protected]

Richard Niyomugabo (FAO)