What if youth led the way? Redefining action for land, culture, and people

From restoring landscapes to preserving heritage and influencing policy, young experts and practitioners around the world are already bridging the worlds of science, traditional knowledge, policy, and practice to drive change in their landscapes and communities. From restoring degraded lands to leading innovative policy campaigns, and from preserving cultural heritage to sparking community-driven solutions, these youth are redefining the boundaries of what’s possible for transformative action. This session will also provide a platform for dialogue, inviting participants to connect, collaborate, and reimagine the role of youth in addressing the pressing challenges of our time.

Join us on 9 December at 12:00 local time (UTC+3) in the Science Pavilion at the UNCCD COP16.

Array ( [0] => Asia/Riyadh )

A Tapestry of Policy: Can Civil Society Unite the Rio Conventions?

The 3rd and last stop of this interactive workshop is in Saudi Arabia. The previous two were held during GLF Africa 2024 (Nairobi, September) and CBD COP16 (Cali, October). The outcomes of the three workshops, as well as learnings from a partner-led session at UNFCCC COP29 (Baku, November) will be consolidated into a short report to publish a small knowledge product and inform strategic decisions about the youth-policy interface work of GLF and YIL on the road to UNFCCC COP30 (Belem, 2025).

Join us on 10 December at 10:00 local time (UTC+3) in the Children & Youth Resilience Hub Pavilion at the UNCCD COP16.

Array ( [0] => Asia/Riyadh )

Trigger Change! Innovative Sustainable Agriculture Solutions for Land Restoration

We are thrilled to announce the launch of the first Southeast Asia “Educators Training” online workshop, scheduled to take place from 25 – 29 November 2024. This four-day workshop will bring together dedicated educators to empower them in teaching innovative university courses about land restoration and sustainability.

The workshop will be led by Universitas Gadjah Mada (Indonesia) in partnership with TH Köln (Germany) and is now open for applications from participants in the Southeast Asia Region and its surrounding countries.

This program is ideal for university educators, researchers, professionals in the fields of agriculture and land management, and those working in non-governmental organizations (NGOs) or the private sector within Southeast Asia region and its surrounding countries.

Check here for more information regarding the course materials.

 

Array ( [0] => Asia/Jakarta )

How are young visionaries rewriting the future of Africa’s landscapes?

During this event, we heard insights from landscape leaders and local innovators across Africa, showcasing successful restoration stories, pressing challenges, and bold opportunities for transformative change from recent regional consultations. 

Report launch: Rooted in restoration: Youth-led transformative change for regreening Africa
The event marked the launch of the report “Rooted in restoration: Youth-led transformative change for regreening Africa“, which highlights shared experiences, challenges, and solutions suggested by several dozen young landscape practitioners and experts across Africa who participated in a series of consultations centered on the restoration of African ecosystems.

Produced in partnership with Regreening Africa, UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, FAO, European Union Commission, CIFOR-ICRAF and the Global Landscapes Forum, and co-written by several experts in the field, this report covers gaps and solutions across policy, finance, capacity building, and communication to show how landscape restoration can be scaled for long-term impact on people and the planet.

Check out the report here.

 

 

Organized by:

 

 

Array ( [0] => Asia/Riyadh )

Backing Biodiversity: Financing Forests & Trees

The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KM-GBF) guides actions worldwide to preserve and protect nature. It was adopted by the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (UNCBD) in December of 2022. This October, at the CBD’s 16th Conference of the Parties (COP16) in Cali, Colombia, parties will review the framework’s implementation to date, take stock of each country’s revised and updated National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs), further develop its monitoring framework, and mobilize more resources towards this cause.

Under the GBF, the CBD for the first time recognizes the importance of managed lands’ – including agricultural and urban areas’ – contribution to biodiversity conservation and restoration. For the Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF), such recognition is timely. We have decades of experience working with land users across the Global South to meet climate, biodiversity, economic, and social goals simultaneously, through holistic approaches like agroforestry, sustainable wildlife management, and planting more trees on farms. We’re also deeply committed to protecting the planet’s remaining primary forests, which play particular roles within the biosphere and serve to maximize ecosystem services. We look forward to contributing our expertise to this critical global dialogue, and helping support our partners to reach their biodiversity targets across a range of landscapes, from forests to agriculture.

Explore the agenda.

 

Array ( [0] => America/Bogota )

Rewarding Nature: Towards a Roadmap to Finance the Global Biodiversity Framework

This side event at the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP16) in Cali, Colombia, unveiled a dynamic roadmap to finance the Global Biodiversity Framework crafted through expert insights and diverse voices.

As a sequel to the 7th GLF Investment Case Symposium, the event featured a lively panel of policymakers, investors, innovators, and community leaders, to tackle challenges, identify innovative solutions and share successes in mobilizing biodiversity finance – and bridge bold financial strategies with practical action on the ground.

 

Array ( [0] => America/Bogota )

Thai Nguyen Climate Change Conference

Climate change poses significant challenges to biodiversity, agriculture, water resources, community health, and infrastructure, requiring global efforts to mitigate its impact and adapt to the changes occurring and anticipated.

Vietnam, with its extensive coastline, diverse ecosystems, and significant agricultural sector, is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change which is posing substantial threats to the livelihoods, food security, and overall well-being of its rural population.

In response to these challenges, there is a pressing need for effective climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies tailored to the specific context of Vietnam’s rural areas.

Against this backdrop, ICRAF and Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry have joined forces to organize a conference focused on climate change mitigation and adaptation science and practices tailored to Vietnam’s rural context. The conference will focus on the following topics: Climate change impacts on rural communities, scientific knowledge and best practices, capacity building and collaboration and community resilience.

Array ( [0] => Asia/Ho_Chi_Minh )

Unlocking women’s potential in and for the Great Green Wall

In sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in the Great Green Wall countries, women provide the essential labour force and are central to food systems. Women, including rural dwellers, play an important role in agro-sylvo-pastoral production, thus sustaining livelihoods and socioeconomic development in the region. Despite the adverse effects of climate change, and the gendered challenges they encounter in securing access to and control over productive resources, public leadership and assets, women still operate in various fields related to land restoration, agroforestry value chain entrepreneurship, climate activism and green business. They represent the building block of development programmes such as the Great Green Wall (GGW) Initiative being implemented in the Sahel and the Horn of Africa. Recognizing their huge potential, the Pan-African Agency of the Great Green Wall (PA/GGW) has launched the Women’s Green Platform to further harness women’s contributions to the initiative. National agencies for the GGW are also setting up coalitions to improve civil society organizations’ participation. However, challenges remain in the operationalization of these platforms, and in ensuring effective participation of other women’s and youth organizations in the GGW Initiative.

The objective of the webinar is to highlight the critical role of women in the environment sector, and discuss how their potential can be unlocked and mobilized for the realization of the GGW Initiative.

The webinar is part of a series of virtual engagements within the framework of the Knowledge for Great Green Wall Action (K4GGWA) programme.

The K4GGWA programme is funded by the European Union and implemented by the Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). It aims to enable sustainable land management and livelihoods in support of the Great Green Wall Initiative and to accelerate progress towards its objectives.

The webinar will showcase impactful women’s success stories in land restoration, activism and green businesses through keynotes, videos and a high-level panel discussion. Beyond networking and cross-learning, the webinar is expected to raise the profile and concerns of women in the GGW, and influence the African Union, GGW officials, decision makers, donors and development practitioners towards better collaboration in, financing of, and support for women-led initiatives, particularly those involving rural women.

Register now

Array ( [0] => UTC )

Holding back the desert: CIFOR-ICRAF at UNCCD COP16

Our planet’s drylands don’t have the lush abundance of a rainforest, but they’re quietly teeming with species that have evolved to handle their extremes, and providing homes, food, and livelihoods for billions of people, too. Yet these ecosystems are also particularly vulnerable to disruption and desertification—and such changes can be permanent.

The UN passed its Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) in 1994; to this day, it’s the sole legally binding international agreement linking environment and development to sustainable land management.

Thirty years on, the UNCCD will gather in December of 2024 to reflect on the progress made so far—and the challenges that lie ahead – under the three focus areas of land restoration; women’s land rights; and land at the heart of the SDGs. As a global centre of excellence for soil and land restoration, integrated soil information, and soil organic carbon accounting, CIFOR-ICRAF will have a powerful presence at UNCCD COP16.

Join us in Riyadh or online to be part of this critical global conversation.

Array ( [0] => Asia/Riyadh )