Strengthening Landscape Partnerships: A “game-changing” solution for food system transformation?
31 March 2021, Washington, DC - The 2021 UN Food Systems Summit (UNFSS) is calling for bold new actions to create more sustainable and equitable food systems. To highlight the potential role of landscape partnerships to support nature-positive food production systems, FAO North America and EcoAgriculture Partners held an Independent Dialogue towards the UNFSS.
The virtual session featured an overview of the Summit by the UNFSS leadership, case studies from Latin America, Africa and the United States, and perspectives from organizations that support these partnerships. Inputs from the experts and participants will be compiled into a report that will be submitted to the UNFSS.
The Role of Landscapes in the UN Food Systems Summit
“The intention of the [UN] Secretary-General, is to put food systems center stage for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals,” explained Martin Frick, Deputy to the Special Envoy for the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit. The summit aims to solicit inputs from around the world through global, national and independent dialogues.
“Our goal is to boost nature-positive production systems to meet the fundamental human right to healthy and nutritious food for everyone within planetary boundaries,” stated Joao Campari, WWF, and Lead on UNFSS Action Track 3 on Boosting Nature-Positive Production. To achieve this, he emphasized three critical areas for action: 1) freezing the conversion of natural ecosystems for food and feed production; 2) managing productive systems in land and water more sustainably, and 3) restoring degraded lands. Campari added that “Action track 3 is committed to scale-out agroecological approaches and implement them at pace and at scale,” and that Landscape Partnerships can play a key role in aligning ecological processes with sustainable food production.
Sara Sherr, President and CEO of EcoAgriculture Partners and an agriculture economist of over 25 years, shared the “impacts that landscape patterns and process had on the outcome at the household, farm, and market-level” in her opening remarks. Landscape approaches have the potential to change the overall outcome of our food system and manage competing demands, added Vimlendra Sharan, Director of FAO North America. Through the Landscape Roundtable series, FAO North America and EcoAgriculture Partners have been working together since 2009 to showcase landscape solutions to address agricultural and climate challenges.
Landscape Partnerships: Opportunities and Requirements
Maria Sengelela of Solidaridad Network, shared their experience of using Landscape Partnerships to bring local and national actors together to promote sustainable agricultural, forestry and natural resource management in the Mount Kilimanjaro landscape. “This process does not only guarantee areas for food production but also ensures critical ecosystems are mapped out for conservation,” said Sengelela.
From Peru, Percy Summers of Conservation International, shared his work to reduce deforestation in the Alto Mayo Landscape, by working with Awajun Indigenous communities and migrant farmers to become effective stewards of the landscape, while leveraging carbon credits towards conservation efforts.
Pat O’Toole, from the Ladder Ranch and Family Farm Alliance in Wyoming, U.S. and Board Member of Solutions from the Land, noted the need for partnerships to improve the forests near headwaters of the Colorado River and valuing ecological services these landscapes provide. “You don't solve a million-acre problem with a 100-acre solution,” said O’Toole. “These forests need significant work. It's going to be the landowners, the forest service, the timber industry, and the local communities that are potential problem solvers.”
“Going forward, mainstreaming landscape and seascape community governance approaches is crucial,” said Leonel Requena of UNDP Small Grants Programme, who works on Landscape Partnerships to safeguard small-scale fisheries, nature-based tourism and protect the barrier reef in Belize. He also added the need for landscape and seascape financing, and returns from those investments to be linked to biodiversity conservation and sustainable livelihoods.
How can Landscape Partnerships be more effective?
Ernesto Herrera, CEO of Reforestamos in Mexico, noted that financing available for landscape initiatives is limited. In response to this, Reforestamos is working to create an entrepreneurial and impact investment ecosystem. A key element to this work is transparency. He emphasized that governments need to make key information readily available to help with decision-making.
“There is a need for stronger facilitation by governments through the use of public finance to open up space and de-risk investment from the private sector,” said Phemo Kgomotso, Senior Technical Advisor from Sustainable Land Management and Restoration at UN Development Program in Turkey.
Mathilde Iweins, Project Development and Implementation Expert of Forest and Landscape Restoration at FAO, emphasized the need to have a common vision with all stakeholders involved and the importance of securing funding in the planning process.
The two-hour interactive webinar included a dynamic Q & A session and sought inputs from participants through the Chatbox. The session highlighted the critical role that landscape partnerships play in creating a path towards food system transformation and alternative livelihoods. It also underlined the need for public and private investment, and capacity building at the local level to ensure that all actors have a role and a say. Additionally, it showcased the usefulness of employing mechanisms that value ecosystem services to help actors protect and restore landscapes. A full report on the session will be submitting to the UNFSS in the next few weeks and will be linked to this page.
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