Participation to the international Forum for the Landscapes for People, Food, and Nature Initiative (LPFN) in Nairobi, Kenya from 6 to 9 March 2012

The Regional Project Coordinator (RPC) (Joseph A. Bizima) and the project Lead Technical Officer (Sally Bunning) were invited at the international Forum for the Landscapes for People, Food, and Nature Initiative (LPFN) jointly organized by EcoAgriculture Partners, Bioversity International, Conservation International, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN, the Government of the Netherlands Ministry of Economic Development, Agriculture and innovation, the UN Environment Programme, the United Nations University-International Partnership for Satoyama Initiative, and the World Agroforestry Centre . The Forum was hosted at the World Agroforestry Centre. The forum was part of the LPFN, a three-year international collaborative Initiative focused on cross-sectoral knowledge sharing, dialogue and action to support the integrated management of rural landscapes for food production, ecosystem conservation, and sustainable livelihoods.

The LPNF initiative consists of a Global Review to amass the evidence base for integrated agricultural landscape management from diverse perspectives; a multi-stakeholder Dialogue consisting of knowledge-sharing and agenda-planning events to bring together innovators engaged in applying and promoting integrated landscape approaches; and Action and Advocacy that will advance the policy, program, investment, and research agendas developed through the Global Review and multi-stakeholder Dialogue at multiple levels.

This was indeed an invaluable opportunity for the project team to meet with other leading landscape actors and share ideas and finally develop a collaborative plan for the scaling up of integrated agricultural landscape management. Kagera TAMP was identified as one of important landscape initiatives in the region and the LPFN forum recommendations would be incorporated in the project SLM practices in the Kagera TAMP implementation embodying watershed management, biodiversity conservation, bio-energy, terrestrial climate mitigation, and rural livelihoods.