Douglas McGuire, Coordinator of the Forest and Landscape Restoration Mechanism

Welcome to our readers to this second FLRM Newsletter, published to present the main achievements of the Forest and Landscape Restoration Mechanism and to inform interested partners on ongoing actions at global, regional and national levels.

Since our first newsletter, released in May 2016, lots of progress has been achieved, including the organization of several successful events on FLR during the twenty third session of the Committee on Forestry (COFO 23) held in Rome from 18 to 22 July 2016.

COFO is held every two years and brings together the heads of forestry from FAO member countries to identify emerging policy and technical issues, discuss solutions and advise FAO on appropriate action. Forest and landscape restoration has become more prominent at COFO in recent years, which has resulted in greater attention to FLR – and high-level political support - at country level. Before introducing the several articles published in this second edition of our FLRM Newsletter, I would like first to highlight the main recommendations made by member countries of FAO at COFO 23, regarding both the Bonn Challenge and the Forest and Landscape Restoration Mechanism.

At COFO 23, members of the Committee invited countries to engage in two important areas:

• the mobilization of innovative and enhanced financing for the restoration of degraded lands, including through the Global Environment Facililty (GEF) , through both adaptation and mitigation windows of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and by providing enhanced enabling conditions for increased private sector investment in Forest and Landscape Restoration;
• providing support to the recently launched FLR regional initiatives/dynamics in Africa, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Mediterranean in order to contribute to a more efficient and successful achievement of the Bonn Challenge and related global initiatives for forest and landscape restoration, especially the relevant SDGs.

COFO also encouraged members of the Committee on Mediterranean Forestry Questions-Silva Mediterranea to consider committing to a new Mediterranean initiative on Forest and Landscape Restoration and to engage in high-level participation in the Fifth Mediterranean Forest Week to be held in Morocco from 20 to 24 March 2017 with a focus on Forest and Landscape Restoration.

The Committee stressed the importance of all the recommendations provided by the several Regional Forestry Commissions, including the multiple ones made to FAO on Forest and Landscape Restoration issues, mainly:

• Support in assessing and monitoring previous and ongoing country restoration initiatives and in developing restoration programs in drylands to address land degradation neutrality;
• Pursue active engagement with multilateral, bilateral and private sector resource partners, including the GEF, Green Climate Fund and multilateral and regional development banks, to enable FAO to increase its support to member countries for capacity development in inter-sectoral planning, institutional development and application of landscape approaches;
• Seek further cooperation with partners to promote the restoration of degraded lands, in particular through direct involvement in global partnerships and initiatives, including the Global Partnership on Forest and Landscape Restoration (GPFLR), the International Model Forest Network (IMFN) and the Landscapes for People, Food and Nature (LPFN) initiative as well as with the members of the Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF);
• Assist countries in identifying and mobilizing financial resources to support their FLR work and to actively seek financial contributions for the FLR Mechanism;
• Support country efforts to plan and implement activities related to the restoration of forests and other degraded lands in particular through activities of the FRLM.

By reading the articles of this second edition of the FLRM Newsletter you will see that most of the recent achievements of the FLR Mechanism are well aligned with the recommendations provided by the COFO 23 to FAO on Forest and Landscape Restoration.

At country level seven national FLRM work plans for the period 2015-2018 are currently implemented in Cambodia, Guatemala, Lebanon, Peru, Philippines, Rwanda and Uganda. The national work plans in all seven countries have been presented in detail to the FLRM Advisory Group at its latest meeting held on 19 July 2016. They are mainly focused on the following three outputs which fit very well with recommendations made by the Committee on Forestry:

1. Improving governance, institutional support and the enabling environment for FLR with actions focused on inter-sectoral coordination, policy and legal frameworks, knowledge dissemination and identification/mapping of restoration options;
2. Facilitating access of national institutions to sustainable financing for FLR (public, private and/or climate financing instruments such as the Green Climate Fund);
3. Developing pilot actions focused on the implementation of innovative models, potentially replicable in other regions within each selected country, and implemented in synergy with other existing FAO projects and, where possible, in partnership with other members of the Global Partnership for Forest and Landscape Restoration (GPFLR).
   In this second edition of our FLRM Newsletter you will have the opportunity to learn more about the FLRM work plan currently implemented by our teams in Guatemala.

At global/regional levels the FLRM team co-organized several workshops/events (including three side events during COFO 23 in July 2016) which are also well aligned with COFO’s recommendations.
The main conclusions of those five events are briefly presented in the following articles dedicated to:

1. The expert workshop on "Promoting Private Sector Investments in Sustainable Forestry and Landscape Restoration" held in Solsona, Spain from 21 to 22 April 2016 with the key support of the Forest Sciences Centre of Catalonia (CTFC) and dedicated to "Financial and Institutional Innovation for Reducing the Risks of Private Sector Investments in Sustainable Forestry".
2. The "Drylands & Forest and Landscape Restoration Monitoring Week" (FAO HQ from 26 to 29 April 2016) - an expert meeting aiming at building a roadmap to support countries’ efforts for monitoring and reporting on Forest and Landscape Restoration.
3. The side event "Forest and Landscape Restoration regional initiatives: Toward the regionalization of the Bonn Challenge" held in Rome during World Forest Week on 20 July 2016. At the end of this side event, chaired by Peter Besseau from the Canadian Forest Service, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Forestry Department of FAO and the International Model Forest Network (IMFN);
4. The World Forest Week side event "Towards a regional Strategy and an Action Plan on Forest and Landscape Restoration for the Asia-Pacific region" held on 22 July 2016. This side event, chaired by Marcial C. Amaro Jr., Assistant Secretary, Department of Environment and Natural Resources of the Philippines and current chair of the Asia Pacific Forestry Commission,  allowed discussion of a first draft of the regional Strategy and Action Plan on Forest and Landscape Restoration for the Asia-Pacific region.
5. The World Forest Week side event "Increasing Private Sector Investments in Forest & Landscape Restoration and Land Degradation Neutrality". This side event was a key opportunity to discuss innovations and needs for effective financing mechanisms and increased private sector investments in Forest and Landscape Restoration.

For further information on recent achievements of the Forest and Landscape Restoration Mechanism please visit our Website or contact our team.