This is the guiding principle for GLFx Nairobi. Founded in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, in 2020, we are a knowledge hub and a community of individuals passionate about restoring Kenya’s landscapes. 

We have realized that knowledge sharing to foster behavior change must always precede environmental intervention. This has defined our approach to our latest project in the Oloolua Forest. 

Dubbed the lungs of Nairobi, the Oloolua Forest is an urban forest ecosystem that covers over 618 hectares across the outskirts of Nairobi.

The forest is a crucial biodiversity hotspot and wildlife refuge in the highly urbanized environment of the Nairobi Metropolitan Area. Gazetted in 1932 as two blocks of over 600 hectares, the forest has since been fragmented into eight blocks to give way to infrastructure projects including roads and the Kenya Standard Gauge Railway.

The forest faces the continued challenges of encroachment and land-grabbing for the development of high-value private homes. The Kenya Forest Service, which manages the forest, works alongside community forest associations and nonprofits such as Friends of Oloolua Forest to conserve and protect the forest.

With support from the Global Landscapes Forum’s GLFx network, GLFx Nairobi is currently carrying out a project aimed at restoring the Oloolua Forest with a specific focus on promoting community-based partnerships for ecosystem restoration. 

Environmental intervention programs often lean towards isolationism in conservation. This is the urge to fence off a threatened ecosystem and keep it free of human encroachment, in hopes that the system will recover.

While this approach has its place, particularly in critically endangered ecosystems, it falls flat in an urban landscape. 

In 2023, for example, at the height of a severe five-month drought, Maasai pastoralists drove over 10,000 herds of cattle into the Oloolua Forest in search of pasture.

While this in itself isn’t strange, as Nairobi is part of the ancestral home of the Maasai community, the cattle ended up destroying over 20,000 trees that had been planted through forest rehabilitation efforts.

The question then becomes: how do we marry the needs of the community and restoration efforts? 

Through the Restore Oloolua Forest project, GLFx Nairobi envisions the restoration of the Oloolua Forest through multi-stakeholder collaboration and using the forest in multiple ways such as promoting ecotourism, collecting firewood for community benefit and reliably sourcing water for local provisions.

Although deforestation is among the greatest sources of carbon emissions globally, cities such as Nairobi have not yet systematically incorporated integrated urban forest management and community support into their climate change agendas and policies. This project aims to flesh out what collaboration in conservation through engagement with all sectors would look like. 

We are driving this vision through a series of activities that address three central ideas: creating awareness to ignite community interest, capacity development to better channel existing interest, and promoting multi-stakeholder collaboration to magnify the impact of community efforts. 

We are mainly raising awareness in schools and religious institutions. GLFx Nairobi is actively training students in primary and secondary schools in tree selection, planting and maintenance as well as tree nursery development.

These students can then become ambassadors who take home and spread the information they acquire in school. We are currently working with five schools bordering the Oloolua Forest, where we have held training sessions on tree selection and planted over 500 trees. 

“The only way the community can remain consistently engaged in the forest’s restoration is if they can derive value from it,” says Christopher Mureithi, chairperson of the Ecotourism User Group at Oloolua.

We are aiming to develop and protect non-intrusive value chains in the forest ecosystem to benefit the local communities. This will be achieved through training workshops on forest and landscape restoration and value chain development for ecotourism, beekeeping and tree nursery forest groups. 

We also train people in social media and digital marketing to introduce these systems to new markets, as well as proposal writing and pitching to attract potential grants and investments into these activities. 

These workshops are designed to not only equip local residents and community representatives with production skills but also open up new markets and expand opportunities for financing. The workshops are targeting 300 members of the forest user groups with a series of training sessions over four months. 

After completing the awareness creation and capacity development workshops, our last activity will be getting everyone to sing the same tune.

Admittedly, this will likely be the most challenging part of the project. Different stakeholders have different interests and expectations of the forest and a delicate balancing act has to be achieved to adequately and sustainably meet all these competing needs. 

The work thus far hasn’t been without its challenges. It remains difficult to accurately determine the economic value of involving local communities in managing forest resources.

This in turn makes it challenging to quantify the effort and input value of the various income-generating activities – and thus how much benefit to the community is sustainable.

From pastoralist herders and wood fuel collectors to beekeepers and camp managers promoting ecotourism, we will need a streamlined value determination method to sustain long-term collaboration. 

Moreover, the Kenya Forest Service and Ngong Hills Metro Community Forest Association remain critically underfunded and under-resourced, which limits their ability to effectively carry out their mandates. Cases of illegal logging and unauthorized fencing off of sections of the forest have at times gone unnoticed for extensive periods.

Nonprofit entities such as Friends of Oloolua Forest have proven instrumental in plugging some of these holes, especially in pursuing litigation to stop fragmentation and development within the forest reserve. 

To address these challenges, GLFx Nairobi seeks to have the Participatory Forest Management Plan (2023–2027) formally recognized by Nairobi and Kajiado counties. The plan identifies management programs based on the forest resources available and how they will be managed by both the Kenya Forest Service and the Community Forest Associations to enhance conservation and promote community livelihoods. 

This participatory management plan will provide an acceptable framework upon which all conservation and related activities will be implemented to ensure that forests in the region are sustainably conserved and managed for the benefit of present and future generations. 

In their song “Glory” from the soundtrack to the movie Selma, American musicians Common and John Legend call for the combined action of the “wisdom of the elders and young people’s energy.” 

Restoring the Oloolua Forest, like most other significant undertakings in landscape restoration, cannot be done in silos. It is only by creating awareness in both younger and older generations about the value of landscape restoration that we will be able to preserve these ecosystems for generations to come.

The post Restoring the Oloolua Forest: Promoting community-based partnerships for ecosystem restoration appeared first on Global Landscapes Forum.

Peatlands:
The climate solution
we forgot champion!

Explore what happened at GLF Peatlands 2024

Peatlands 101

Bolster your knowledge about peatlands 

with our latest ThinkLandscape stories!

What are peatlands, and why do they matter?

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6 ways to save our peatlands
 

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Our top 10 reads on peatlands
 

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5 things you should know about peatlands

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Ready to test your peatland knowledge?

QUIZ!

GLF Peatlands
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4 TAKEAWAYS

1. Improving capacity for stakeholder collaboration is critical to strengthen landscape management initiatives such as the PEATS Impact Project.
2. Numbers speak volumes. Gathering data on peatland degradation can prompt governments and stakeholders to prioritize conservation.

Let’s do what we can to rebuild a world in which peatlands are not forgotten but recognized and valued for everything they hold.

ÉLIANE UBALIJORO

Chief Executive Officer,
CIFOR-ICRAF

Must-See Speakers

Together, our shared knowledge, research, lived experiences and yearning for a healthier world can catalyze great change. We were fortunate to have many incredible scientists, government officials, landscape leaders, representatives for Peat IMPACTS and others share their insights at GLF Peatlands. 

Click on the photo to watch the speech!

Sonya Dewi Santoso

Director of Asia at Principal Investigator of Peat IMPACTS (ICRAF)

Jochen Flasbarth

State Secretary in the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany

Agus Justianto

Director General of the Sustainable Forest Management, Ministry of Environment and Forestry of Indonesia

Emmanuela Shinta

Director & Chapter Coordinator, Ranu Welum Foundation and GLFx Kalimantan

Alfred Okot Okidi

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Water and Environment at Government of Uganda

Jan Peters

Managing Director at Michael Succow Foundation

Musonda Mumba

Secretary General, Convention on Wetlands

Heike Henn

Director for Climate, Energy and Environment & Commissioner for climate policy and climate financing at German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)

Franziska Tanneberger

Director at Greifswald Mire Centre

Daniel Murdiyarso

Principal Scientist, CIFOR-ICRAF

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PEATLANDS WORLD TOUR

First we build awareness. Then we take action. Explore insights from peatland conservation and restoration initiatives doing meaningful work worldwide.

Click on the location icon to join a virtual expedition!

The post All you need to know about peatlands in 2024 appeared first on Global Landscapes Forum.

Bonn, Germany (26 June 2024) – The Global Landscapes Forum (GLF) and CIFOR-ICRAF are introducing the Digital Campus, a transformative platform designed for landscape professionals, learners, educators and scientists. This innovative hub will convene learners in a learning experience to drive action toward sustainable landscapes through the latest knowledge, data and research. 

The Digital Campus offers a comprehensive, demand-driven learning experience for local actors and target groups. Later in 2024, it will continue to grow, offering a variety of learning experiences through calls for applications posted on the platform. 

The Digital Campus will feature needs-based and action-oriented learning journeys on integrated and inclusive approaches to governing and managing landscapes. By including case studies and project data from CIFOR-ICRAF, it will bridge the gap between online training and real-world impact. 

“Integrated approaches are widely promoted to tackle the world’s environmental crisis, but few are the opportunities for practitioners to learn how to apply these approaches. The Digital Campus aims to fill this gap by providing a learning space where practitioners can upgrade their knowledge and educators can create curricula to prepare their students to face the challenges of the future,” said Cora van Oosten, Director of Capacity Development & Education at CIFOR-ICRAF. 

By connecting digital content with local action, the Digital Campus aims to strengthen ties among diverse stakeholders and landscapes. It offers an interactive space to share experiences and insights and co-create knowledge. 

Addressing global challenges 

Drawing on the scientific expertise of CIFOR-ICRAF and the GLF’s extensive network, the Digital Campus will focus on nine core themes addressing current global challenges such as the climate crisis and biodiversity loss: 

To learn more about the Digital Campus, contact us here. 

                                                                                ### 

NOTE TO EDITORS 

For more information or to arrange interviews, contact Kelly Quintero (k.quintero@cifor-icraf.org). 

About the Landscape Academy  

The Digital Campus is part of the Landscape Academy, an initiative by the Global Landscapes Forum offering a wide range of opportunities to address global challenges, supporting professionals worldwide to apply landscape approaches effectively in their contexts. It serves thousands of learners, helping them expand their knowledge, connect with peers and shape their careers in sustainable landscape management. Learn more at https://academy.globallandscapesforum.org/ 

About the GLF 

The Global Landscapes Forum (GLF) is the world’s largest knowledge-led platform on integrated land use, connecting people with a shared vision to create productive, profitable, equitable & resilient landscapes. It is led by the Center for International Forestry Research-World Agroforestry Centre (CIFOR-ICRAF), in collaboration with its co-founders UNEP and the World Bank, and its charter members. Learn more at www.globallandscapesforum.org. 

The post Digital Campus: A transformative learning hub for sustainable landscapes appeared first on Global Landscapes Forum.

Given the unique opportunity for sustainable rice landscapes to deliver solutions for climate mitigation and adaptation, nature recovery, and improving farmer livelihoods while contributing to food and nutrition security, there is an urgent need to target finance and scale up actions in high-impact landscapes.

Key findings

The Mission paper provides information about the significant climate, nature and equity positive impact potentials, and emerging opportunities to scale private sector investments and collective action for sustainable rice. It also identifies the range of challenges that currently limits the acceleration of the rice sustainability transition at the scale needed, which include: customized support for rice farmers, transition costs and long-term agreements, sustainability target-setting guidance gaps, barriers to engaging in Voluntary Carbon Markets, and public and private sector investment gaps.

The objective of the RICE+ Hub for Regenerative Ricescapes Mission Paper is to serve as an action plan to facilitate pre-competitive private sector collective actions and investments across the entire rice value chain. These investments and collective actions will accelerate rice-related carbon, climate, nature and Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) investments and project implementation to scale sustainable rice in priority countries and landscapes, starting with a focus on the major rice-producing regions of South and Southeast Asia.

To accelerate the transition of rice production systems and landscapes to be equitable, regenerative and resilient, the RICE+ hub will focus on and facilitate 3 priority Action Areas through mobilizing our members and partners:

1. Forging public-private investment alliances
2. Promoting high-integrity rice carbon and sustainability standards
3. Expanding knowledge exchange and promoting innovations by the private sector across the rice value chain

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) launched the Mission paper for the RICE+ hub for regenerative ricescapes, in collaboration with member companies and partners, under the auspices of the Sustainable Rice Landscapes Initiative (SRLI).  Link to other WBCSD related work:

• Long, I. et al. (2023). Asia Rice Nature-Based Solutions Accelerator Baseline report. Climate Focus. 
• Sustainable Rice Landscapes Initiative (SRLI)
• SRLI Report: Scaling private sector investment in sustainable rice: Needs and opportunities

The post RICE+ hub for regenerative ricescapes – Mission paper appeared first on Global Landscapes Forum.

Since we began in 2013, we have

connected organizations in our network

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We are here to connect, share, learn and act

Sustainable landscapes are essential for the future we want: for food, livelihoods, health, renewable materials, energy, biodiversity, business development, trade, climate regulation and water.

The GLF is dedicated to the landscape approach. It is at the landscape level that production goals, consumption needs and protection targets can be combined, and that people are organized and ready to restore billions of hectares of idle, degraded land. The landscape approach can protect and conserve biodiversity-rich landscapes; tackle insecure tenure, community and gender rights; address food insecurity and declining rural livelihoods; and promote sustainable value chains and sustainable use of natural resources. 

As a global community and working together, we can find the right tools to support locally-led landscape action and measure the progress.

RESTORATION

FINANCE

RIGHTS

FOOD AND LIVELIHOODS

MEASURING PROGRESS

Vision

The vision of the GLF is to promote the paradigm shift toward sustainable development and meet the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement and the post-2020 biodiversity agenda by connecting communities; facilitating knowledge sharing; and accelerating action to build productive, prosperous, equitable and resilient landscapes. 

Mission and objectives

The GLF enables an effective and progressive response to the climate crisis based on the best available science and knowledge, and actively contributes to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

The GLF and all Partners promote:

1. Food security and ending hunger – including safeguarding vulnerable food production systems from the adverse impacts of climate change and biodiversity loss;
2. Actions that contribute to keeping global average temperature increase to well below 1.5 degrees Celcius above pre-industrial levels, while achieving equity and sustainable development;
3. Climate and development actions in the landscape that respect, promote and consider human rights obligations, particularly those of people in marginalized communities and vulnerable situations;
4. Gender equality and strengthening  women and girls;
5. The integrity of all types of ecosystems, including oceans and coastal ecosystems, land-based sustainable resource management systems and the protection of biodiversity;
6. The importance of education, training and other forms of capacity development when taking action to achieve sustainable development;
7. The development of innovative financial instruments, aimed particularly at smallholders and sustainable value chains and resource management systems; and
8. The development of indicators to measure progress in all activities.

Read more

Our Partners

The post About Us appeared first on Global Landscapes Forum.

The Sustainable Wildlife Management (SWM) Programme is a major international initiative that aims to improve wildlife conservation and food security. The program aims to develop innovative, collaborative, and scalable new approaches to conserve wild animals and protect ecosystems, whilst at the same time improving the livelihoods of indigenous peoples and rural communities who depend on these resources.

 

The challenge

 

Millions of people depend on wild meat for food and income. Wild meat is an important source of protein, fat, and micronutrients, particularly for indigenous peoples and rural communities in South America, Africa, and Asia.

The demand for wild meat is growing, especially in urban areas. If hunting for wild meat is not managed at sustainable levels, then wildlife populations will decline and people will suffer increased food insecurity. Recent studies have shown that overhunting for food is now threatening hundreds of wildlife species with extinction.

 

 

The solution

 

Between 2018 and 2024, the SWM Programme will help improve the conservation and sustainable use of wildlife in the forest, savannah, and wetland ecosystems. Field projects are being implemented across 15 African, Caribbean, and Pacific countries by:

• improving how wildlife hunting is regulated

• increasing the supply of sustainably produced meat products and farmed fish

• strengthening the management capacities of indigenous and rural communities

• reducing demand for wild meat, particularly in towns and cities

 

The post Sustainable Wildlife Management (SWM) Programme appeared first on Global Landscapes Forum.

The Sustainable Wildlife Management (SWM) Programme innovates on wildlife conservation and food security 

The post Bringing people virtually to Africa’s bushmeat hubs appeared first on Global Landscapes Forum.

During this panel, Tony Rinaudo (the forest-maker) and other representatives of the approach of Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR) – a Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR) method – will be discussing the potential of FMNR for restoration of African landscapes with Volker Schlöndorff (the film-maker). A short trailer of Schlöndorff’s documentary “The Forest Maker” will be featured during the session and impressions about the production of the film will be shared. It will be announced that the full film/documentary will be shown in the evening of the same day (Friday, November 5th at 7:00 – 8:30 GMT here). Afterwards, the importance of cooperation between ‘grassroots level’ and ‘framework setting’ organizations will be discussed. Furthermore, the panelist will discuss the need for a combined ‘bottom up’ and ‘top down’ approach in the frame of the African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative (AFR100) including local communities and knowledge as well as women and youth for a successful and sustainable restoration of landscape for food security, forest protection and more. The initiative propagates FLR in over 30 countries, which are committed to restore close to 130 million hectares of forest.

Relevant Resource(s):

• The Forest Maker | Trailer (watch here)
• Forest-maker | Training on FMNR (watch here)
• Whitepaper: The Film-maker meets the Forest-maker – The story behind FMNR and its role for restoration of African landscapes!

Useful Website(s):
https://fmnrhub.com.au/ 

The post The Film-maker meets the Forest-maker – The story behind FMNR and its role for restoration of African landscapes! appeared first on Global Landscapes Forum.

BONN, Germany — Luciana Gatti, senior climate change researcher for National Institute for Space Research (INPE) and lead author of July’s headline-making Nature study on the Amazon’s net-positive carbon emissions, opened a global conference on the Amazon Biome on Tuesday.

“We are about to collapse and burn fast,” Gatti warned. “We are in the tipping point of the Amazon, but this is reversible.”

Gatti said that during the last 50 years, the Amazon area lost 17% of its forest. Last year, it lost about 1.5%. She called for urgent actions and general measures to control and ultimately end deforestation during dry seasons when fires take the most harmful effect, as well as to find more sustainable ways to manage agriculture and re-establish the ecosystem.

“The change in Atlantic circulation links to the Amazon dieback which links to the thawing of permafrost and Arctic meltdown,” said Robert Nasi, Director-General of the Center for International Forestry Research. “These things are very dangerous because they can create cascading effects that will impact the whole basis of the biosphere and life’s survival systems.”

“We’re in trouble, he added. “These tipping points are interrelated, they are not independent.”

The drying of the Amazon is on track to severely jeopardize species survival, threaten the livelihoods of its more than 30 million people, accelerate the climate crisis, alter the Earth’s water cycles, disrupt global food systems and cause trillions of dollars in damage to the global economy.

GLF Amazonia: The Tipping Point – Solutions From Inside Out addressed the emergency of preserving and restoring the biological and cultural diversity of the world’s largest tropical rainforest. Thousands of people are set to attend the three-day event virtually, amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Why did COVID happen? Because we pollute the air, we pollute the water, we torture Mother Nature,” said Nemonte Nenquimo, Ecuadorian Amazon Waorani leader. “We Indigenous Peoples have been struggling for a long time to maintain balance [with nature] in climate change. I want people from the outside to hear us and to know that we are fighting for our lives – not only our life, but that of humankind.”

On Tuesday, Gatti and other conference participants, including Ecuadorian economist and former Minister of Energy and Mines, Alberto Acosta; Joênia Wapichana, the first Indigenous woman elected federal deputy in Brazil; and María Alexandra Moreira López, Secretary General of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO) and former Bolivian Minister of Environment and Water addressed the challenges affecting the Amazon biome, including balancing competing land use demands, combating deforestation, mitigating the spread of fires and enacting better legislation.

Other speakers on the opening day included: Tasso Azevedo, coordinator of the MapBiomas initiative, a platform to produce annual land cover and land use maps at the country level. Azevedo has helped reduce the rate of deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest by 75 percent — and inspired similar efforts around the world; Lourdes Miranda Tiguayo, a human rights and environmental defender and leader of Land and Territory and Natural Resources in the Guarani Nation in Bolivia; Rodrigo Botero García of the Foundation for Conservation and Sustainable Development (FCDS)

The conference is hosted by the Global Landscapes Forum, with support from over 55 partner organizations and 15 media partners.

The conference runs until Sept. 23. Topics include biocultural identities, circular bioeconomy, integrated landscape approaches, value chains, traditional knowledge, nature-based value chains, cross-sectoral land-use planning, governance and rights of local actors.

On Sept. 23, two former environment ministers Marina Silva (Brazil) and Manuel Vidal (Peru) will discuss Amazonian politics and how to usher in legislation that will boost sustainability and equitability of the biome’s nature and peoples.

Talks at the GLF Amazonia digital conference will also inform key global forums this year: Climate Week 2021 (20–26 September), the GLF Climate hybrid conference (5–7 November), and the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) (1–12 November).

***To request interviews with speakers from the opening plenary, please email Thaís F​erreira Mattos, t.ferreira@cgiar.org***

INSTRUCTIONS FOR JOINING: register as press here. The conference is free for participants living in Latin America and the Caribbean and a small fee for those living in other regions of the world.

PRESS REGISTRATION

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This digital conference has been made possible through the generous support of: Ford Foundation, BMU, BMZ, the Government of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and FOLUR.

Organizations participating in the conference include but are not limited to: World Wildlife Fund WWF, Conservation International, Interfaith Rainforest Initiative (IRI), Coordinator of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon River Basin (COICA), Peruvian Society for Environmental Law (SPDA), Embrapa Eastern Amazon, The Forest Dialogue’s Amazon Forest Forum, Rainforest Alliance, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), World Agroforestry (ICRAF), Universität Koblenz-Landau (Institute for Environmental Sciences – PRODIGY), Earth Innovation Institute and GLF, International Bamboo and Rattan Organisation (INBAR), Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária (Amazônia Oriental), Pindorama Filmes, Instituto Catitu, Itaú Cultural, WaterBear, TAWNA, Laberinto Cine Y Televisión, Marfrig, Instituto de Investigaciones de la Amazonía Peruana, Climate Focus, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), Alliance Bioversity International (CIAT), Humanist Institute for Cooperation with Developing Countries (Hivos), Amazon Conservation Association, MAP Initiative, CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry (FTA), Brazilian Coalition on Climate Forest and Agriculture, Green Gigaton Challenge (UN-REDD+, Emergent, EDF, Forest Trends, and the Architecture for REDD+ Transactions, Governors’ Climate and Forests Task Force, Brazilian Coalition on Climate Forest and Agriculture.

The Global Landscapes Forum (GLF) is the world’s largest knowledge-led platform on integrated land use, dedicated to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and Paris Climate Agreement. The Forum takes a holistic approach to create sustainable landscapes that are productive, prosperous, equitable and resilient and considers five cohesive themes of food and livelihoods, landscape restoration, rights, finance and measuring progress. It is led by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), in collaboration with its co-founders UNEP and the World Bank and Charter members.

The post We are about to collapse and burn fast, warns senior climate change researcher appeared first on Global Landscapes Forum.

“Our aim is to mainstream and accelerate sustainable finance with a specific focus on nature-based solutions, climate change, ecosystem restoration, and biodiversity. That may sound aspirational but we believe the time is right and the finance community is ready,” says Carole Dieschbourg, the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Sustainable Development of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.

Sustainable finance is a burgeoning sector with significant growth prospects for environmental, social and governance (ESG) investments. Global ESG assets are expected to exceed $53 trillion by 2025, representing more than a third of projected total assets under management, according to Bloomberg data. 

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development estimates that almost $7 trillion a year is required up to 2030 to meet climate and development objectives.

By addressing nature’s multiple crises now, global investors can have a positive environmental and social impact, while also protecting their financial assets. Unsustainable land use has negative implications for climate change, biodiversity, water use, rural poverty and gender equality. These issues can lead to asset stranding, debt defaults and reduced returns across a wide range of asset classes, including corporate loans, public and private equity, and sovereign bonds.

The two partners are combining their respective strengths to unleash the power of sustainable finance for nature-based solutions on a global scale. GLF is the world’s largest knowledge-led platform on integrated land use. Luxembourg is a major financial hub that is poised to become a leader in natural capital investing. By leveraging the GLF and its charter members’ knowledge and best practices on sustainable land-use finance, key organizations in Luxembourg have the chance to shape a growing market for impact investments targeting sustainable land use and climate.

“This partnership is both welcome and timely as the world confronts a range of crises caused by unsustainable human activities,” says John Colmey, GLF managing director. “Together with the government of Luxembourg, GLF is helping recalibrate financial mechanisms to protect Earth as one interconnected landscape.”

Now in its eighth year, the GLF’s global digital media platforms have reached over 1 billion people in 185 countries via a core network of participants representing more than 7,800 organizations, governments, and youth, learning and knowledge programs. The GLF Investment Case, launched in 2015 and held in Luxembourg in 2019, is one of the leading platforms for sustainable finance. The government of Luxembourg can play an important role in rechanneling investment flows toward land-use models that are both sustainable and financially viable. 

This approach is specially designed to address the needs of communities in low- and middle-income countries. In doing so, the partnership will contribute to achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, along with the climate objectives of the Paris Agreement and the UN’s REDD+ program to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries. 

Activities implemented within the framework of the partnership include:

• Preparing, jointly with Luxembourg partners, relevant knowledge management and communications initiatives 
• Planning and organizing physical, digital and blended events in Luxembourg (e.g. webinars, workshops and online conferences)
• Helping key Luxembourg organizations to increase their engagement with sustainable finance for nature-based solutions to climate change with a particular focus on the Global South
• Designing knowledge products jointly with Luxembourg-based organizations (e.g. publications, news articles and fact sheets), which can benefit multiple partners, in particular from low and middle income countries

Luxembourg and the GLF have pooled their knowledge and resources several times in recent years. In 2019, the Grand Duchy hosted the fourth GLF Investment Case Symposium, which brought together almost 500 of the world’s leaders of sustainable finance institutions. The GLF and the Luxembourg Green Exchange – the world’s first platform dedicated exclusively to sustainable finance – also collaborated on a publication about green bonds and sustainable land-use investments last year.

The next GLF Investment Case Symposium will spotlight how forests, sustainable food systems and sustainable finance can accelerate action towards achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement. It will be held in Glasgow, alongside the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), from 5-7 November, 2021. 

For more information or for interviews, please contact: 
Elena Matviichuk, Communications and Social Media Consultant, E.Matviichuk@cgiar.org

The post Luxembourg and GLF join forces to mainstream investments for sustainable land use and climate appeared first on Global Landscapes Forum.