Enhancing biodiversity, maintaining ecosystem flows, enhancing carbon stocks

This project objective is to support reforestation and tree-planting existing programmes and deliver multiple and integrated environmental, livelihood and development benefits through the promotion of the cost-effective and sustainable restoration of the biological and productive capacities of degraded forests and landscapes.

The ultimate objectives of this project are:

• Having 127,851 hectares of land under restoration plans generating multiple benefits with a clear path to achieve restoration at the landscape/watershed scale, and
• 5,821 ha of land where innovative restoration alternatives/solutions to ensure long term commitment to restoration are tested and influencing restoration options at the landscape level.

Philippines, target areas:

• Pantabangan-Carranglan Watershed Forest Reserve in the Cordillera/Caraballo mountain range
• Simulao Watershed, within the Agusan River Basin in the Eastern Mindanao biological corridor.

To achieve this the project will focus on 3 main areas of work and related activities:

Component 1: Creating the enabling conditions for the improved implementation of Forest and Landscape Restoration

The proposed project will support the promotion of restoration options delivering the multiple benefits through:

• Enhanced capacity building (e.g. development of guidelines and conduct of trainings) on restoration options delivering multiple benefits (output 1.1);
• Coordination mechanisms support to facilitate and catalyse the development of strategic plans generating multiple benefits from forest restoration (output 1.2)
• Promotion of land tenure security (output 1.3)
• Opportunities for long term incentives from restoration (output 1.4)
  

Component 2: Implementation of restoration programs and complementary initiatives in forest landscape restoration, protected area management and biodiversity conservation

The project will support improved planning and implementation to achieve multiple benefits. These can be done by adopting approaches to restoration that supports:

• Information gathering and improved planning at landscape level where restoration will happen (output 2.1)
• Developing participatory multistakeholders’ restoration plans at landscape level encouraging diverse approaches to restoration that are expected to deliver multiple benefits (output 2.2)
  

In order to incentivize communities/farmers, the project will work on:

• Supporting the development of restoration plans including a short and long term financial plan to support restoration efforts (output 2.2)
• Developing Community Development funds linked to restoration to increase the communities’ ownership of restoration activities (output 2.2)
• Supporting farmers, to enable them to obtain livelihood and economic benefits in a sustainable manner from restoration of degraded areas through the provision of technical, organisational, value chain analysis and marketing support (output 2.3)
• Insuring stakeholders engaged in restoration activities will have right to trees (output 2.4)
• Promoting Payment for Ecosystem Services so that farmers/communities can be rewarded for their restoration activities on the long term. (output 2.5)

Component 3: Knowledge, Partnerships, Monitoring and Assessment

This component has 2 foci:

• Knowledge Management through: (i) the development of a multi-level, multi-modal and multi-dimensional project KM (Output 3.1), (ii) the compilation, organization and systemization of FLR knowledge (Output 3.2) and (iii) Dissemination of knowledge and project results locally, nationally and internationally (Output 3.3)
• Monitoring & Evaluation of (i) FLR at national level and (ii) projects results and impacts (Output 3.4)

It is estimated that the direct lifetime GHG emission mitigation potential from the project is estimated as 2,311,048 tCO2eq.