3 parallel Discussion Forums

This session will:

– stress the need for large scale, integrated action against land degradation in order to reach multiple development impacts (e.g. on resilience, growth, and security).

– draw on lessons to identify key ingredients for success and requirements for transformative change.

– feature results from TerrAfrica’s 13 years’ achievements in sustainable land and water management and present actors from the landscape that have championed solutions for landscapes restoration, environment related migration and displacement, promotion of value-added products and sustainable SMEs.

– bring voices from the field to present their experience from Nigeria’s drylands, Mozambique’s forest landscapes, Burundi’s highlands, Zambia and Burkina Faso.

– highlight the role of the World Bank Group and partners in supporting countries drive large scale, transformative actions in landscape restoration.

Links

http://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/environment

Publication, PowerPoint presentation: Fighting Land Degradation at Landscape Scale

This Discussion Forum brings together experts from different organizations (the African Union, UN-Economic Commission for Africa, FAO, CIFOR  and the CGIAR) to discuss the links between land governance, land use planning and tenure rights in the context of landscape restoration across different land uses. While previous discussion forums have highlighted the importance of tenure security on reforestation, land use and land use planning has remained outside this debate, yet there is good scope for land use planning processes to strengthen the tenure rights of groups and individuals.

The discussion forum will raise awareness of the linkages between land governance, land use and tenure security by providing case examples from different resource systems in Africa. The African Union will showcase the Great Green Wall of the Sahara and Sahel initiative, a flagship initiative to combat the effects of climate change, desertification, natural resources degradation and,  sustainable management and use of forests, rangelands and other natural resources in dry lands.  Secondly, it will provide space for the sharing of lessons and experiences and ultimately explore how policymakers and practitioners in different resource settings might shape landscape restoration efforts and initiatives  in light of the linkages between management of natural resources, land use planning and tenure security. Lastly, the forum will explore policy options for ensuring that land tenure plays its foundational role for governance, and stewardship of land and natural resources towards a common vision for landscape restoration.

Agricultural supply chains are responsible for over 70 percent of tropical deforestation, but can also be important drivers for reforestation and landscape restoration. While landscape initiatives emerge around international supply chains, sector initiatives strive to halt deforestation and reforest landscapes. But how can the sector be incentivized to invest in more sustainable landscapes? What role can certification play to achieve results on landscape level? To answer these questions, this forum will take you on a journey through West, East and Southern Africa to get to know the places and people behind landscapes and sectors.

In West Africa, more than 80 percent of the industry together with the governments of Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire have committed to halting deforestation and restore forest areas. You will find out from the Cocoa and Forests Initiative how this multi-stakeholder initiative has been established and is now being put in action, as well as how this looks at a local level.

Tea production in East and Southern Africa has also been driving deforestation, with both rural households and factory-based tea processing highly dependent on firewood. But the sector has acknowledged that it can only be sustainable if landscapes are restored and operations are based on sustainable forest management. Drawing examples from Kenya and Malawi, the conversation will explore how the industry is changing its ways.

These different experiences will show what we have to do to drive deforestation out of these agricultural supply chains and have them invest in reforestation. The conversation will also explore how such initiatives can support and be supported by the AFR100.