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This Briefing Note discusses the complementary roles of ecological restoration and biological conservation and explores the potential for their integration within a unified ecosystem approach. It describes the importance of restoration as a facet of conservation planning and includes case examples that illustrate this type of integrated approach.

This publication presents practical guidelines for participatory planning, monitoring and evaluation workshops that can be conducted with the members of a multi-stakeholder platform. The method consists of three tools. The first one supports looking ahead, identifying priorities for future multi-stakeholder collaboration in the landscape. The second one is used to look inward. It focuses on the processes within an existing platform in order to identify areas for possible improvement. The third tool is for looking back, by identifying the main outcomes of a platform and comparing them to the original objectives. The tools can be used together or separately – either with external consultants or by platform members themselves.

This book explains the methods and results of a major research project, RECONDES, that was undertaken to develop strategies of effective use of vegetation to combat desertification and land degradation by water. The research approach combined understanding of the processes of erosion and land degradation with identification of suitable and effective plants and types of vegetation that could be used to decrease the intensity of soil erosion. The project uses the relatively new concept of physical connectivity of water and sediment in the landscape. The premise of the approach is that sediment connectivity can be reduced through the development of vegetation in the flow pathways, and that this approach is more sustainable than use of physical structure. It required research into the locations and characteristics of these pathways and into properties of suitable plants and species at a range of scales and land units. These components are combined to produce a spatial strategy of use of suitable plants at the most strategic points in the landscape, designed for restoration or mitigation of land degredation. Additional benefits of use of vegetation as a strategy of sustainable management are outlined. The methods and restoration strategy were developed in relation to the dryland environments of the Mediterranean region of southern Europe, involving field measurements, monitoring and modelling in the study area in Southeast Spain, the driest and most vulnerable region in Europe to desertification.

This paper describes an approach towards integrating forest protection, management and restoration at a landscape scale. It has been developed by the WWF Forests for Life programme as a contribution to the organisation’s global conservation programme, drawing in part on a landscape approach developed jointly with partners including IUCN The World Conservation Union and the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. While written mainly for a WWF audience, we hope that the paper will be of interest to other NGOs, development agencies and governments. Part 2 outlines the context within which WWF is applying these ideas; the rest of the document describes the overall approach, which could be applied in other situations.

This book is aimed at giving a strong boost to the adoption of sustainable land management on the African continent. It is based on scientific and technical as well as practical and operational knowledge. It was written to provide clear guidance to countries, regional institutions and programmes, development partners and land users organizations that are ready and eager to change present investments towards a more sustainable direction. The book presents 13 major groups of sustainable land management technologies and approaches in a user-friendly manner, exemplified by 47 case studies from all over the region. It should be emphasized that, although comprehensive, these practices are not intended to be prescriptive or top-down, and in most cases can be improved and tailored to different situations. Users are therefore encouraged to adapt and modify them, based on specific conditions, integrating local knowledge and ingenuity.