economic development Archives - Global Landscapes Forum

Rehabilitating land with bamboo

kneditor — Wed, 13 Sep 2023 14:52:18 +0000

Sharing the latest news and activities from the bamboo and rattan sectors

This issue of the Bamboo & Rattan Update Magazine highlights the unique advantages of bamboo for contributing to the goals of the UNCCD, and considers the untapped promise of the plant.

Landscape restoration schemes rely upon accurate baseline data, so decision-makers can allocate resources in an optimal manner. However, in many areas of the Global South where desertification and land degradation are most rampant, there is a paucity of relevant information. Working to solve this stubborn problem, INBAR partnered with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN in 2020 to put bamboo on the map with new tools for monitoring forest coverage. Though current figures place total global bamboo forest coverage at approximately 35 million hectares, some estimates range as high as 50 million, as many countries lack the capacity and coordination for forest resource assessment.

The first article examines new instruments for bamboo resource monitoring to help bamboo-rich countries achieve the full potential of this multifunctional plant and intelligently inform long-term sustainable policymaking.

The second article takes a look at The Restoration Initiative (TRI), which is a major initiative seeking to reverse degradation and restore landscapes around the world. INBAR is currently working to achieve these twin goals with partners on the ground in Cameroon including the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, UN Environment Programme, Cameroon’s Ministry of Environment, Nature Protection and Sustainable Development, FAO, and other local government ministries and civil society organizations.

The third article showcases one of their recent public-private partnership projects which has now accumulated five years of data during its trial period. Using bamboo to protect one of Ghana’s transitional zones from deforestation and endless cycles of fire, the project is bringing new life into what has been characterized as “deserted wasteland.”

About INBAR

INBAR, The International Bamboo and Rattan Organisation, is an intergovernmental organisation bringing together some 40 countries for the promotion of the ecosystem benefits and values of bamboo and rattan.

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Bamboo for land restoration

kneditor — Wed, 13 Sep 2023 13:31:46 +0000

Drawing recommendations and best practices from case studies

Bamboo is a versatile plant that can provide climate-smart solutions to millions of rural communities – if its benefits are recognised by decision makers and planners and if national sustainable development policies address the benefits that bamboo can offer.

Land degradation, caused by factors like biodiversity loss, soil erosion, pollution, and water scarcity, harms the environment, disrupts agriculture, and threatens food security. It also carries economic and health risks.

Bamboo is a valuable tool for restoring degraded lands due to its ability to grow in challenging conditions, prevent soil erosion with its extensive root system, and regenerate quickly. Many countries, including Cameroon, China, Ethiopia, Kenya, Ghana, India, Madagascar, the Philippines, and Vietnam, have recognized bamboo’s potential for sustainable land management.

Additionally, bamboo offers economic opportunities, as it grows rapidly and can be used to create various products. It has contributed to poverty alleviation and has a significant global trade value estimated at USD 60 billion.

Outlining the environmental and economic benefits of bamboo

The case studies presented in Chapter 2 offer a wide range of projects from across Africa, Asia and Latin America. Diversity aside, there are several particularly clear findings from the case studies. It is equally clear that bamboo offers an important co-benefit and can increase incomes for local residents. The case studies also make clear that, to be successful in the long term, bamboo land restoration projects require social acceptance and local buy-in, which can largely be achieved by clearly outlining the environmental and economic benefits of bamboo:

Environmental benefits
Livelihood gains and social acceptance
Economic viability

About INBAR

INBAR Policy Synthesis reports aim to inform decision makers in government and international development partners of the benefits that bamboo and rattan can bring to their efforts to build sustainable development and green economies that improve peoples’ livelihoods.

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Closing plenary: towards a resilient, equitable and African-led food future

Global Landscapes Forum WT — Tue, 27 Sep 2022 04:34:26 +0000

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.

How can we transform food systems and develop green supply chains across Africa?

In this closing plenary, Special Adviser on Africa to the United Nations Secretary-General Cristina Duarte, along with key speakers, introduces the concept of innovative ecosystems which are economic engines that scale innovations with high potential. They are fueled by collaboration and form support networks or enabling environments to elevate ideas, start-ups, and local organizations to their full potential.

By working across sectors and geopolitical boundaries, Africa can combine modern innovation, science, local practices, and traditional knowledge to attract the investment needed for a sustainable rural transformation.

Learn about the Impact Potential of Agricultural SMEs in Africa

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FOLUR on how to grow greener food

Global Landscapes Forum AM — Sun, 07 Nov 2021 07:24:45 +0000

#GLFClimate 2021 Must-see Speakers

Launch of FOLUR Impact Program

The Food Systems, Land Use, and Restoration (FOLUR) Impact Program is an integrated platform designed to transform food systems by mobilizing sustainable production landscapes in 27 country projects for eight major commodities, including livestock, cocoa, coffee, maize, palm oil, rice, soy, and wheat. FOLUR improves agricultural ecosystems and policies through collaborations with land managers, governments, researchers, the private sector, and financial institutions, boosting economic growth and benefiting human health.

With financing of $345 million from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and expected additional co-financing of over $2.7 billion, FOLUR promotes sustainable integrated landscapes and efficient food value chains at scale.

The FOLUR Impact Program uses an integrated approach to achieve systemic environmental change and support improvements in human well-being, resilience, and economic growth and prosperity. To realize this comprehensive vision, FOLUR harnesses the expertise and reach of multiple sectors: the private sector, governments, financial institutions, land managers, research institutions, and civil society.

The FOLUR Global Platform is led by the World Bank, with support from five key partners:

· International Finance Corporation

· Global Landscapes Forum

· Good Growth Partnership

· UN Food and Agriculture Organization

· FOLU Coalition

Follow FOLUR on Twitter.

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Dr. Maria Flachsbarth – In Support of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration

kneditor — Thu, 03 Jun 2021 08:43:08 +0000

Dr. Maria Flachsbarth, Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), voices Germany’s support for the UN Decade, and explains why restoring Africa’s drylands is critical for the health and future of our planet.

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Protected areas in a post-COVID world

Global Landscapes Forum — Mon, 02 Nov 2020 10:33:43 +0000

In recent years, conservation approaches that promote strict separation of humans and nature have fallen under criticism, largely owing to their disregard for rural and Indigenous communities who manage and depend on protected areas. However, against the backdrop of Covid-19 – a zoonotic crisis that forcefully illustrates the dangers of human intrusion into wildlife habitats – many have raised the call to fortify the world’s remaining biodiversity refuges.

In this paper, the German Development Institute examines the burdens that Covid-19 has placed on protected areas, anticipating future threats to their sustainability, while prompting much needed discussion on their role and shape going forwards.

Watch the corresponding session that took place at the GLF Biodiversity Digital Conference: One World – One Health here: Protected areas in a post-COVID world

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Making the world a better place with forest landscape restoration

Global Landscapes Forum — Thu, 24 Sep 2020 04:23:07 +0000

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) explain why restoring the world’s degraded forest landscapes is a must for human and planetary well-being.

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Nature Risk Rising: Why the Crisis Engulfing Nature Matters for Business and the Economy

Global Landscapes Forum — Mon, 24 Aug 2020 12:08:49 +0000

Look out: Nature Risks on the Rise

Nature loss is a planetary emergency. Humanity has already wiped out 83% of wild mammals and half of all plants and severely altered three-quarters of ice-free land and two-thirds of marine environments. One million species are at risk of extinction in the coming decades – a rate tens to hundreds of times higher than the average over the past 10 million years.

The World Economic Forum’s 2020 Global Risks Report ranks biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse as one of the top five threats humanity will face in the next ten years. Human societies and economies rely on biodiversity in fundamental ways. Our research shows that $44 trillion of economic value generation – over half the world’s total GDP – is moderately or highly dependent on nature and its services. Nature loss matters for most businesses – through impacts on operations, supply chains, and markets.

We have the power to change this. Humanity urgently needs to rethink its relationship with nature, in order to halt and reverse the alarming degradation of the natural world. Business leaders have a crucial role to play, by putting nature at the core of their processes and decision-making and systematically identifying, assessing, mitigating and disclosing nature-related risks to avoid severe consequences. Businesses can be part of the global movement to protect and restore nature.

Despite an increasing focus on nature loss, there is still a limited understanding of why it matters to businesses and what the private sector can practically do about it. The World Economic Forum is launching a series of New Nature Economy (NNE) reports in 2020, making the business and economic case for safeguarding nature. The series aims to catalyse public-private momentum in 2020, with a focus on the UN Convention on Biological Diversity’s milestone summit (COP15) in Kunming, China, and the related Business for Naturemobilization.

Nature Risk Rising, produced in collaboration with PwC and the first report in the NNE series, explains how nature-related risks matter to business, why they must be urgently mainstreamed into risk management strategies and why it is vital to prioritize the protection of nature’s assets and services within the broader global economic growth agenda.

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Ecology and economics for pandemic prevention

Global Landscapes Forum — Mon, 24 Aug 2020 12:04:22 +0000

For a century, two new viruses per year have spilled from their natural hosts into humans (1). The MERS, SARS, and 2009 H1N1 epidemics, and the HIV and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemics, testify to their damage. Zoonotic viruses infect people directly most often when they handle live primates, bats, and other wildlife (or their meat) or indirectly from farm animals such as chickens and pigs. The risks are higher than ever (2, 3) as increasingly intimate associations between humans and wildlife disease reservoirs accelerate the potential for viruses to spread globally. Here, we assess the cost of monitoring and preventing disease spillover driven by the unprecedented loss and fragmentation of tropical forests and by the burgeoning wildlife trade. Currently, we invest relatively little toward preventing deforestation and regulating wildlife trade, despite well-researched plans that demonstrate a high return on their investment in limiting zoonoses and conferring many other benefits. As public funding in response to COVID-19 continues to rise, our analysis suggests that the associated costs of these preventive efforts would be substantially less than the economic and mortality costs of responding to these pathogens once they have emerged.

Find out more here.

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Going to scale with smart investments in community food production and health initiatives: a response to Fiji’s health crisis

Global Landscapes Forum AR — Thu, 11 Jun 2020 03:58:57 +0000

This interactive Q&A session aims to sensitize donors, development partners, financiers and interested parties to reflect on successful initiatives and explore strategies that attract financing to support stakeholders to take the lead in scaling-up actions that have a direct impact on agri-business and value chain development, building resilient Pacific agri-food systems and improving incomes, health and nutrition. A proactive approach that triggers behavioural change that transforms the agri-food system can only be realised with the active engagement and commitment of Fijians themselves. Currently Fiji has a high dependence on food imports and has been struggling with the crisis of non-communicable diseases; 84% of all its deaths attributed to cardiovascular and diabetes. This is the most vulnerable population to pandemics like Corona Virus. Fiji’s latest Nutritional Survey indicates that 80% of children below the age of 2, 50% children below the age of five and almost of half of Fiji’s population is suffering from anaemia. Immune system of those suffering from nutrition challenges are highly compromised. Disruptions in global trade will also have an impact on food availability for those who do not have access to local food systems. It is urgent to scale up local nutritious food production systems in this time of crisis. The Innov4AgPacific project and its partners are ready to share experiences and showcase lessons learned to support more coordinated actions and motivate the national, regional and international community to increase financing for scaling-up successful interventions which directly benefit rural communities, small producers and other agri-preneurs by investing in value chain and agri-business development to contribute to the social and economic transformation of Pacific Island States.

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