ecosystems Archives - Global Landscapes Forum https://www.globallandscapesforum.org/tag/ecosystems/ Connect, learn and share Fri, 31 May 2024 12:06:30 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://i0.wp.com/www.globallandscapesforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/logo_glf.png?fit=32%2C30&ssl=1 ecosystems Archives - Global Landscapes Forum https://www.globallandscapesforum.org/tag/ecosystems/ 32 32 137966364 Regional observatories for sustainable African ecosystems https://www.globallandscapesforum.org/video/regional-observatories-for-sustainable-african-ecosystems/ Fri, 03 Nov 2023 10:54:03 +0000 https://www.globallandscapesforum.org/?post_type=video&p=61835   About GLF Nairobi 2023: ‘A new Vision for Earth’   The GLF Nairobi 2023 Hybrid Conference, held on October 11 and 12, convened global thought leaders to set the stage for COP28, the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference. This pivotal event mobilized action on critical issues affecting humanity, biodiversity, and our planet. The conference featured two […]

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About GLF Nairobi 2023: ‘A new Vision for Earth’

 

The GLF Nairobi 2023 Hybrid Conference, held on October 11 and 12, convened global thought leaders to set the stage for COP28, the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference. This pivotal event mobilized action on critical issues affecting humanity, biodiversity, and our planet.

The conference featured two focused days: Day 1 centered on “Africa’s Sovereign Solutions,” exploring pathways to a sustainable and prosperous future for the continent. Day 2, dedicated to climate, aimed to craft a “Survival Guide for a Planet in Crisis,” paving the way for a fairer world ahead of COP28.

GLF Nairobi brought together a diverse coalition of influential voices, ranging from scientists, activists, and Indigenous leaders to financiers, women, youth, policymakers, and private sector representatives. As a united front, we collectively championed change and passionately advocated for meaningful action in these pivotal times.

 

About this session

 

African ecosystems offer a wide range of essential services, including timber, meat, water and medicines, and play a key role in global systems, including biodiversity and climate regulation. Scientific knowledge is key to maintaining all these systems. However, many African countries lack this knowledge or the capacity to sustainably manage ecosystem resources. A number of regional observatories and regional coordination bodies have been created to support research and generate knowledge to support decision making.

This session, hosted by CIFOR-ICRAF, brought together observatory experts with the heads of regional institutions and other stakeholders to discuss the role of regional observatories in sustainably managing the continent’s ecosystems.

 

Resources

 

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]]> 61835 How to implement agroecology as a systemic adaptation response https://www.globallandscapesforum.org/publication/how-to-implement-agroecology-as-a-systematic-adaptation-response/ Thu, 31 Aug 2023 11:32:46 +0000 https://www.globallandscapesforum.org/?post_type=publication&p=60922 The Challenge   There is a wealth of compelling scientific evidence that hunger, climate change, biodiversity loss, as well as land and water degradation are not only systemic but also interrelated crises, which reinforce each other in their intensity. The consequences of these multiple crises for global food security are severe. In 2021, an estimated […]

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There is a wealth of compelling scientific evidence that hunger, climate change, biodiversity loss, as well as land and water degradation are not only systemic but also interrelated crises, which reinforce each other in their intensity. The consequences of these multiple crises for global food security are severe. In 2021, an estimated 702 to 828 million people – or respectively around 8.9 to 10.5 percent of the world’s population – were suffering from hunger.

This number is estimated to increase in the upcoming years. Climate change, in particular, is expected to heavily impact agricultural landscapes in the different world regions, as a major driver of crop failure and growing food insecurity. At the same time, agriculture itself further contributes to climate change, biodiversity loss, and to land and water degradation.

Therefore, policymakers often face difficult trade-offs in managing the equally important goals of safeguarding food security and rural livelihoods while also protecting and restoring critical ecosystems. Additionally, countries must meet international commitments in the area of environmental and climate change-related policies, as agreed to in various multilateral processes, such as the Rio Conventions or the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

These diverse commitments add to the complexity of political decision-making. Yet, efforts to address the multiple environmental crises by different policy communities remain primarily in isolation from each other. As a result, a holistic adaptation of the global food system to the changing environmental and climatic conditions is still an outstanding task.

 

The solution

 

To ensure the long-term survival of the growing world population while staying within planetary boundaries, systemic and crises-responsive approaches to produce sufficient and highquality nutrition are urgently needed.

The purpose of this brief is to suggest one such approach: implementing agroecology to enhance Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) in the agricultural sector. Agroecology supports food security and rural livelihoods within agricultural landscapes in a sustainable and nature-friendly way.

Against this background, this Policy Brief outlines five key messages for decision-makers on how to strengthen agroecology as an ecosystem-based adaptation approach in the agricultural sector. The central idea behind this Paper is to synergize the achievement of multiple national-level targets and commitments, including food security, climate adaptation, biodiversity protection, as well as sustainable land and water management.

 

Five key messages

 

  • Crises-responsive and nature-friendly food systems depend on a systemic transformation along the whole supply chain.
  • The formation of alliances for change is needed to strengthen agroecology as an adaptation response.
  • Circular knowledge transfer across sectors and scales supports farmers’ resilience in diverse landscapes.
  • Long term success of climate resilient agroecological innovations requires an enabling environment.
  • Strategic adaptation funding and local responsive financial support for the agricultural sector are at the core of ensuring food security.

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]]> 60922 Agroecology, making ecosystem-based adaptation work in agricultural landscapes https://www.globallandscapesforum.org/publication/agroecology-making-ecosystem-based-adaptation-work-in-agricultural-landscapes/ Wed, 30 Aug 2023 14:09:09 +0000 https://www.globallandscapesforum.org/?post_type=publication&p=60905 Key messages   Agroecology and Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) share principles and aims for sustainable ecosystems and livelihoods. Urges integrated responses for resilient food systems amidst climate crisis, hunger, and biodiversity loss. Climate change compounds risks by affecting agriculture, water resources, and global food systems.   Agroecology and ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA): two sides of the same […]

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  • Agroecology and Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) share principles and aims for sustainable ecosystems and livelihoods.
  • Urges integrated responses for resilient food systems amidst climate crisis, hunger, and biodiversity loss.
  • Climate change compounds risks by affecting agriculture, water resources, and global food systems.

 

Agroecology and ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA): two sides of the same coin

 

Agroecology is a systemic approach promoting agriculture that systematically uses and supports ecological processes. It proactively addresses the various linkages between producers, consumers, and the range of other elements constituting a food system. Agroecology is based on a set of clearly articulated socio-economic and ecological principles. Advocates of agroecology aim to achieve transitions in agricultural production schemes, ranging from more “incremental” changes at the level of the agroecosystem up to more “transformational” shifts at the level of the food system as a whole.

While agroecology and EbA originate in different policy and knowledge communities agroecology from the sustainable agriculture community and EbA from the climate and biodiversity spheres –, they share common principles and key characteristics, that could support joint policies, programs, and strategies.  Both EbA and agroecology are NbS with the aim of strengthening and maintaining ecosystem services for sustainable livelihoods and ecological, economic, and social sustainability.

 

Challenge of interlinked and systemic crises

 

The aim of this report is to encourage the agriculture and climate communities to find common, integrated, and systemic responses to one of the most urgent questions for humanity: How to develop climate-resilient and sustainable food systems in times of multiple crises that are threatening global food security? Today’s planet is facing a number of systemic crises that are closely interlinked with each other. One of the most dramatic examples is the interdependency between the global food system and the drastic change of the global climate.

The climate crisis exacerbates hunger, biodiversity loss, and the degradation of land and water resources. Thus, climate change threatens agriculture and disrupts the global food system, thereby multiplying existing risks in the system. For example, changing rainfall patterns cause higher frequency and severity of droughts and floods, posing immense challenges to farmers in all world regions.

 

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]]> 60905 Forests, Nature, People and Finance – A Win Win Opportunity? https://www.globallandscapesforum.org/video/forests-nature-people-finance-a-win-win-opportunity/ Thu, 23 Mar 2023 01:53:01 +0000 https://www.globallandscapesforum.org/?post_type=video&p=57161 About the 6th GLF Investment Case Symposium   Hosted in Luxembourg and online, GLF–Luxembourg Finance for Nature 2023: What comes next? united 4,500 participants from 160 countries around how finance can solve – rather than exacerbate – the climate and biodiversity crises. The event featured 106 speakers and 100 global and local partner organizations and reached 10 million people on […]

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About the 6th GLF Investment Case Symposium

 

Hosted in Luxembourg and online, GLF–Luxembourg Finance for Nature 2023: What comes next? united 4,500 participants from 160 countries around how finance can solve – rather than exacerbate – the climate and biodiversity crises. The event featured 106 speakers and 100 global and local partner organizations and reached 10 million people on social media, with more than 230,000 engagements.

 

About this session

 

This session explores how the forest sector can increase its participation in ecosystem restoration to leverage its unique knowledge base and utilize its land area to advance environmental and societal interests. In particular, it discusses opportunities to expand the use of sustainable finance in the area of forest restoration for multiple outcomes.

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]]> 57161 How biodiversity loss causes pandemics https://www.globallandscapesforum.org/audio/biodiversity-loss-causes-pandemics/ Thu, 25 Aug 2022 15:33:27 +0000 https://www.globallandscapesforum.org/?post_type=audio&p=50815   Connecting dots   According to the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) in its Pandemic report Escaping the Era of Pandemics, there is a clear link between global health pandemics and the biodiversity and climate crisis we are experiencing. Changes in land use, the expansion and intensification of agriculture, and the […]

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Connecting dots

 

According to the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) in its Pandemic report Escaping the Era of Pandemics, there is a clear link between global health pandemics and the biodiversity and climate crisis we are experiencing. Changes in land use, the expansion and intensification of agriculture, and the trade and consumption of wildlife disrupt ecosystems, and promote proximity between humans and wildlife, livestock and humans, and thus with the pathogens they carry.

In this episode, originally aired in April 2020, Landscape News editor Gabrielle Lipton brings together Thomas Gillespie and Kate Jones, two leading experts under the framework of World Health Day 2020 to explain the links between biodiversity loss and zoonotic diseases, as well as actions needed to change our ways to prevent another one. 

Kate Jones is a professor and researcher of ecology and biodiversity at University College London. Her work focuses on the interface of ecological and human health and has warned for decades about the global trend of emerging infectious diseases.

Thomas Gillespie is an associate professor of environmental sciences and environmental health at Emory University. His research examines interactions among anthropogenic environmental change; biodiversity; and the ecology and emergence of disease in wildlife, domestic animals, and people.

 

The complex nexus between biodiversity loss and zoonotic diseases

 

Jones and Gillespie elaborate on the complexity of ecological and human systems and the importance of an integrated approach in preventing future pandemics:

  • “Diseases are not a result of a simple link between cutting a forest and getting ebola, it’s about how you alter the systems.” Jones remarks.
  • Integrated landscapes can help prevent disease outbreaks as they preserve ecosystem communities.
  • Opposite to popular belief, zoonotic diseases aren’t exclusive to tropical areas. “Those can happen everywhere as ecosystem disruption can happen anywhere, it’s just that in the tropics there are more species and therefore more diseases,” says Jones.
  • One Health approach is a great tool to encourage actions and strategies in response to COVID-19 while taking into account biodiversity and ecosystem health.

 

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]]> 50815 Agroecology: Ecosystem-based Adaptation in Agriculture https://www.globallandscapesforum.org/video/agroecology-ecosystem-based-adaptation-in-agriculture/ Wed, 08 Dec 2021 05:04:27 +0000 https://www.globallandscapesforum.org/?post_type=video&p=46978 About GLF Climate 2021   Hosted digitally and in Glasgow alongside COP26, the GLF Climate 2021 hybrid conference made a unanimous call for ambitious, concrete action to stop the climate crisis. Attended by 4,386 digital participants from 145 countries, along with 481 in-person participants at the University of Glasgow, the event featured 400 leading scientists, activists, Indigenous leaders, financiers, youth, […]

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About GLF Climate 2021

 

Hosted digitally and in Glasgow alongside COP26, the GLF Climate 2021 hybrid conference made a unanimous call for ambitious, concrete action to stop the climate crisis.

Attended by 4,386 digital participants from 145 countries, along with 481 in-person participants at the University of Glasgow, the event featured 400 leading scientists, activists, Indigenous leaders, financiers, youth, and government leaders.

Across 67 plenaries, interactive sessions, launches, and climate talks, GLF Climate: Forests, Food, Finance – Frontiers of Change explored the potential of three key climate solutions: forest restoration, resilient food systems, and sustainable finance. Messages spread on social media rallied 41.34 million people around concrete ways to address the climate emergency as quickly as possible.

Agroecology as ecosystem-based adaptation in agriculture

 

The challenges posed by climate change to agriculture and food systems are too large and the time too short to respond to them through a siloed approach.

The purpose of this session is to emphasize the strategic opportunity for a progressive agenda on climate change resilience that exists when the agriculture and climate change communities pursue joint programs and strategies.

 

Learn more

 

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]]> 46978 Bernardo Strassburg: global restoration priorities https://www.globallandscapesforum.org/video/bernardo-strassburg-global-restoration-priorities/ Wed, 09 Dec 2020 10:10:25 +0000 https://www.globallandscapesforum.org/?post_type=video&p=40019 Bernardo Strassburg, Coordinator of the Centre for Conservation and Sustainability Science (CSRio) and Executive Director of the International Institute for Sustainability, talks us through key findings from his most recent study, “Global priority areas for ecosystem restoration”, published in Nature magazine in 14th October 2020.

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Bernardo Strassburg, Coordinator of the Centre for Conservation and Sustainability Science (CSRio) and Executive Director of the International Institute for Sustainability, talks us through key findings from his most recent study, “Global priority areas for ecosystem restoration”, published in Nature magazine in 14th October 2020.

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]]> 40019 Ma Jun, Director, Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, China https://www.globallandscapesforum.org/video/ma-jun-director-institute-of-public-and-environmental-affairs-china/ Fri, 27 Nov 2020 04:13:33 +0000 https://www.globallandscapesforum.org/?post_type=video&p=39460 Ma Jun, Director of China’s Institute of Environmental Affairs, explains how China is stepping up its efforts to protect and restore biodiversity.

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Ma Jun, Director of China’s Institute of Environmental Affairs, explains how China is stepping up its efforts to protect and restore biodiversity.

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]]> 39460 Jennifer Morgan on environmental justice https://www.globallandscapesforum.org/video/jennifer-morgan-on-environmental-justice/ Fri, 27 Nov 2020 04:08:00 +0000 https://www.globallandscapesforum.org/?post_type=video&p=39447 Jennifer Morgan, Executive Director of Greenpeace International, explains why justice must be the guiding principle for planetary recovery.

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Jennifer Morgan, Executive Director of Greenpeace International, explains why justice must be the guiding principle for planetary recovery.

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]]> 39447 For forests’ sake: Transforming extractive industries and infrastructure to achieve NYDF Goal 3 https://www.globallandscapesforum.org/video/for-forests-sake-transforming-extractive-industries-and-infrastructure-to-achieve-nydf-goal-3/ Mon, 16 Nov 2020 14:27:01 +0000 https://www.globallandscapesforum.org/?post_type=video&p=39100 The New York Declaration on Forests (NYDF) is a non-binding international agreement that seeks to halt natural forest loss by 2030, contributing to global climate and biodiversity goals as well as the UN SDGs. In this session, Climate Focus, Meridian Institute and the UNDP hone in on NYDF Goal 3 (to significantly reduce deforestation from […]

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The New York Declaration on Forests (NYDF) is a non-binding international agreement that seeks to halt natural forest loss by 2030, contributing to global climate and biodiversity goals as well as the UN SDGs. In this session, Climate Focus, Meridian Institute and the UNDP hone in on NYDF Goal 3 (to significantly reduce deforestation from other economic sectors such as mining, extractive industries and infrastructure by 2020), providing key insight on the issues that have hampered progress to date, while raising the necessary questions to accelerate change going forwards.

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