This action plan identifies the gaps where knowledge products or capacity-development initiatives are needed across various stakeholder groups, based on the results from a global capacity needs assessment, a stocktaking of capacity-development initiatives and knowledge products, and several targeted consultations. It describes existing knowledge products and capacity-development initiatives that can be replicated or extended to address these gaps. Based on these efforts, the action plan specifies the terms of reference for eight key capacity- and knowledge-development initiatives based on a set of recommended priority actions.

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The Restoration Education program represents an initiative that aims to integrate landscape restoration into formal academic and vocational education in Africa. The initiative builds on the international momentum created by the launch of the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration1 in June 2021. Labelling the decade 2021-2030 as Decade on Ecosystem Restoration spurred the increase of investment in landscape restoration, particularly in Africa. While increased investment has led to an increased number of restoration projects across the continent, it also led to the awareness that there is a shortage of well-trained professionals to do the job.

Whereas forest management is a well-established educational domain, the concept of forest landscape restoration, which connects multiple disciplines within environmental and social sciences both, is relatively new. To build a new generation of ‘restoration professionals’ across the continent, a group of African education institutes, together with the Global Landscapes Forum and IUFRO launched a Call to Action to develop inter- and transdisciplinary restoration related curricula across the African continent.

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This report presents the analysis conducted in the first half of 2023 by the LSFI Working Group on Sustainable Finance Education and Training. 

The working group had as an objective to analyse and strengthen the sustainable finance skills and competencies of Luxembourg’s financial centre. The analysis maps and identifies gaps and needs and proposes practical solutions to develop suitable sustainable finance-related education paths/training in Luxembourg. 

The report exposes the working group’s objective, the methodology and scope used for the analysis, the main findings, the solutions identified and the following steps to be carried out by the LSFI.

About the LSFI Working Group on Sustainable Finance Training and Education

During its first years of activity, the LSFI conducted a thorough mapping exercise to identify the gaps and needs of the financial sector when it comes to sustainable finance. Following this exercise and in line with the Luxembourg Sustainable Finance Strategy Action Plan, the LSFI decided to organise cross-sectoral working groups to help address these gaps and advance sustainable finance.

The overall goal behind these working groups is to help the financial players in Luxembourg transition towards increased sustainability and to ensure coordination between the involved actors by regularly exchanging information, fostering dialogue, sharing best practices, and proposing practical solutions.
The first of these working groups started in November 2022 to cover sustainable finance training and education.

Learn more about Sustainable Finance at the LSFI Resource Center

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In an effort to meet the growing demand for landscape restoration expertise, educators from Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand gathered for two knowledge sharing workshops. These events shed light on the current state of natural resources management education and explored avenues for regional cooperation.

The first workshop on 17-19 October 2022, online, focused on identifying restoration-relevant competences covered by existing natural resources management curricula and other necessary competences that could be further developed through curriculum revisions, dedicated restoration courses, practical on-site teaching, and strengthened collaboration with restoration implementing agencies.

There is an increasing demand for knowledge and expertise in landscape restoration

Following the virtual workshop, educators convened in Dehradun, India, in March 2023. This time, attendees shared examples of field training and outdoor learning sites, such as the Myanmar Forest School Training Forest, which develops traditional forest management skills and investigates indigenous tree species and their biodiversity.

Participants jointly developed a work plan to strengthen collaboration on restoration education that was included in this workshop report.

The series of workshops were organized by the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education and the Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy in collaboration with IUFRO’s Special Programme for Development of Capacities (SPDC), Global Landscapes Forum (GLF) and Wageningen University & Research. The events received support from the Republic of Korea’s National Institute of Forest Science, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland and U.S. Forest Service.

Learn more:

• Regional collaboration on Restoration Education around the Bay of Bengal
• Restoration Education 
• Workshop presentations
• IUFRO Publications

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GLF Climate: Frontiers of Change

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Developing a new professional and educational domain

As the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration drives opportunities to address restoration from new perspectives, The Global Landscapes Forum, International Union Forest Research Organizations, Wageningen Center for Development, and Wageningen University and Research, along with numerous partner universities across the African continent, come together to transform restoration education.

Through the development of transdisciplinary, practice-and competence-based blended courses and curricula, an opportunity is presented to kick-start the development of Restoration Education as a new professional and educational domain.

Read the Restoration Education Concept Note and visit the Landscape Academy to learn more.

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About GLF Africa 2022

GLF Africa 2022: How to build an equitable, resilient food future brought together over 8,500 participants from 122 countries and featured 182 leading scientists, activists, Indigenous leaders, financiers, youth and government leaders, and 68 incredible partners to explore African solutions to the global food crisis caused by climate change, COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine. 

Across 31 plenaries, interactive sessions, launches, virtual tours, dialogues, performances, and a job fair, the digital conference explored ways to transform the future of food through healthy landscapes, equitable access to land, and shorter, greener value chains. Messages spread on social media rallied 26 million people around concrete ways for Africa to regain its food sovereignty.

Restoration education as a new professional and educational domain

As the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration drives opportunities to address restoration from new perspectives, The Global Landscapes Forum, International Union Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO), Wagenging Centre for Development, and Wageningen University and Research, along with numerous partner universities across the African continent, come together to transform how restoration is taught.

Pioneering professionals in the field elaborate on the proposition for the development of transdisciplinary, practice, and competence-based blended courses and curricula, as an opportunity to kick-start the development of Restoration Education. We highlight three points from the discussion:

• There are many challenges to agri-food systems transformation including knowledge gaps. It is said that Illiteracy is a disease. According to Adejoke Akinyele, a reader from the University of Ibadan, education can be a great solution to such challenges, especially for the youngest population. 
• Training the farmers through local community engagement platforms and which also consider economic benefits through entrepreneurial skills is key in achieving Restoration Education, says Avana Tientcheu Marie Louise from the University of Dschang in Cameroon.
• Bringing together a transdisciplinary teaching team is key in blended learning. Linking up with among universities and strengthening partnerships is a big part of the restoration/ landscape values. Spaces such as the African Forest Forum are an example of what a platform can do for stakeholders in restoration education.

Read the Restoration Education concept note

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About GLF Africa 2022

GLF Africa 2022: How to build an equitable, resilient food future brought together over 8,500 participants from 122 countries and featured 182 leading scientists, activists, Indigenous leaders, financiers, youth and government leaders, and 68 incredible partners to explore African solutions to the global food crisis caused by climate change, COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine. 

Across 31 plenaries, interactive sessions, launches, virtual tours, dialogues, performances, and a job fair, the digital conference explored ways to transform the future of food through healthy landscapes, equitable access to land, and shorter, greener value chains. Messages spread on social media rallied 26 million people around concrete ways for Africa to regain its food sovereignty.

Growing an alliance of Kenyan urbanites to create regenerative urban food systems

Shambajijini Summit is a growing collective of regenerative-urban-farming-enthusiast farmers and gardeners, chefs, suppliers, musicians, artists, researchers, and trainers. They believe in the power of regenerative urban agriculture to transform food systems in Kenya.

In this session, speakers explore ways to connect with like-minded urbanites and provide opportunities to take action: advocacy, knowledge sharing and education, and producer-consumer communications. For the Shambajijini urban farming collective, feeling connected to others is key to creating more just and regenerative food systems and societies.

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Get an inside look at the results of the African capacity needs assessment undertaken by the UN FAO-led task force on best practices. Discussions in this session raise awareness of the existing systemic capacities for restoration as well as the current gaps and barriers and of the opportunities to meet these needs in the context of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. Panellists highlight pathways towards enhancing practitioners’ capacities through the development or up-scaling of key knowledge products and various capacities development initiatives, such as the Landscape Academy, the FAO-ELTI youth contest, and the Restoration Factory.

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