On 5 and 6 December 2017, FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, in collaboration with the Philippines Department of Environment and Natural Resources - Forest Management Bureau (FMB), Bagong Pagasa Foundation and FAO Headquarters, organized a regional training workshop on FLR in Manila and Bataan, Philippines.

Participants from Cambodia, Lao PDR, Indonesia and the Philippines shared experiences and lessons learned in implementing FLR initiatives in their respective countries.  All have been adaptive and enthusiastic concerning FLR as it targets their national reforestation agenda while addressing local needs.  Workshop participants also discussed next steps to upscale FLR efforts in the Asia-Pacific region.

The half-day workshop, was followed by a field demonstration in Morong, Bataan Province (170 km from Manila), that featured assisted natural regeneration (ANR) techniques, such as the use of lodging boards to press down Imperata cylindrica to accelerate the growth of seedlings under natural regeneration and reduce fire risks.

FAO has provided significant support to countries implementing FLR in the region. Through the regional Technical Cooperation Programme (TCP) project “Promoting Forest Landscape Restoration in selected Southeast Asian Countries” (TCP/RAS/3512), capacity development to promote FLR approaches has been initiated in Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR and the Philippines.

The primary FLR objectives in these countries are to improve the flow of forest ecosystem services and enhance sustainable livelihoods for local communities and forest-dependent peoples through the restoration of environmental stability and productivity of degraded forests and forest landscapes.

For more information please contact the FLRM team at [email protected].

Maria Paula Sarigumba - Kenichi Shono - Kong Zhe

(FAO)