Digital edition: New York 2019

How do we get from one-off approaches at best repeated in a few places to achieving integrated landscape man-agement across hundreds if not thousands of locations? This panel will present and discuss emerging new partnerships that aim to do just that: the LandScale Initiative and 1000 Landscapes for 1 Billion People. These partnerships involve a combination of radical collaboration, innovative financing, smart tech and putting local landscape partners first. Join us over lunch to find out what we mean by radical collaboration, why it is so critical, and how to get involved.

How we address the challenges to ocean health will ultimately define our pathway for survival on this blue planet. The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030 is an opportunity to harness and scale the solutions needed for the restoration of our oceans. In many coastal geographies, restoration of coral ecosystems like coral reefs and mangroves will deliver resilience through food security and livelihoods as well as blue carbon benefits. In order to support the potential for mitigation and adaptation of our Oceans towards the Paris Commitments, its crucial to have the Ocean included and recognized in countries national determined contributions. It is imperative that coastal ecosystems which support the oceans productive sectors, such as small-scale fisheries are valued through restorative efforts.

The session will highlight bright spots from national and local levels to enhance action during the decade towards restoration to achieving our global goals for conservation, climate change and sustainable development.

Read more on oceans here.

Despite growing awareness of the importance of peatlands, there are still critical gaps in information and research that must be filled in order to understand the contribution of peatlands to climate change mitigation; and their role as a vital nature-based solution [to climate change]. These gaps can only be filled through the cooperation of all actors involved and their commitments to act against further drainage or degradation of peatlands as well as progressive rewetting and restoration efforts. These approaches offer a low-cost, low-tech and high-impact opportunity – not only for the tropics, but the entire world – to leverage peatlands as a nature-based super solution to address the global climate emergency. Nature needs time to heal; therefore, intact, healthy peatlands must be protected and managed so they can be preserved, and degraded peatlands restored, as soon as possible.

The session will share how tropical forested wetlands, especially peatland forests, play a fundamental role in climate change mitigation and adaptation. At the same time, panelists will share their knowledge concerning the importance of healthy peatlands. A discussion will follow, focusing on the following points:

• Understanding the challenges and opportunities of peatlands restoration projects;
• Understanding how restoration projects can optimize management activities;
• Understanding aspects of restoration to be emphasized for maximum impact;
• Understanding the importance of conserving and sustainably managing intact peatlands.

The International Tropical Peatlands Center (ITPC), Global Peatlands Initiative (GPI), their partners and tropical peatland practitioners and researchers will participate in discussions concerning restoration strategies. The event will also provide a forum where project managers, donors, private companies and NGOs working on peatlands may express their interests and commitments to collaboration with GPI and ITPC. This will contribute to forming networks for knowledge sharing related to restoration and conservation management projects, in order to draw the world’s attention to the necessity of conserving, protecting and sustainably managing these unique ecosystems.

Moderator/Speakers:

• Welcome and speaker’s introduction
• Moderator invites each speaker to make short remarks: Tim Christophersen, UN Environment
• Importance of collaborative research and linking science to practice through innovation: Agus Justianto, International Tropical Peatlands Center (ITPC)
• The urgency peatlands monitoring systems in advising on decision-making and policies aimed at improving management of peatland landscapes: Mette Wilkie, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
• Technology and private sector innovation for peatlands restoration and conservation, capacity building and private public partnerships – a rebound of rare species: Tsuyoshi Kato, vice president, Wana Subur Lestari (private-sector timber firm)

This session will take the audience on a journey to three parts of the world – Central Asia, Africa and Latin America – in order to hear the stories of pastoralists and others living there. The challenges that these people face will be discussed together with the different innovations that are being developed to overcome them and harness the productivities of drylands and rangelands for local and national economies, food production, and biodiversity conservation. The dearth of good data on rangelands and drylands will be highlighted, and a pathway mapped out for drawing sufficient attention to and investment in rangelands and drylands through the UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration.

1. Introduction to the session – Fiona Flintan, ILRI/Coordinator of the Rangelands Initiative of the International Land Coalition (ILC) and Daisy Hessenberger, Junior Professional, IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature)

2. Film – A Common Right: Mongolia (produced by the International Land Coalition and the Land Rights Now campaign)
Introduced by: Mr Sukhbold Sukhee, Permanent Representative of Mongolia to the UN in New York

3. Film – Pasture Improvement and Paddocking – Cattle Herder Cameroon (produced by The School of Life)
Introduced by: Umar Sule, a Mbororo pastoralist and member of NGO MBOSCUDA, Cameroon.

4. Film – Chihuahuan Desert Grasslands of Mexico (produced by the Bird Conservancy of the Rockies)
Introduced by: Gabriel Seghezzo, Director of Fundapaz Argentina and Coordinator of the Semi-Arids Platform Latin America.

5. Closing remarks – Paolo Agostini, Lead Environmental Economist, Environment and Natural Resources Global Practice, World Bank