The Global Landscapes Forum A hub of landscape expertise for worldwide implementation

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More than ever, solutions to climate and development challenges rest in the hands of healthy landscapes. Rising temperatures, potential food shortages, depleted natural resources and threatened livelihoods are inextricably linked, urgently demanding a holistic and integrated approach – a landscapes approach.

Such practices are far from new; researchers have been assessing them for decades and indigenous communities have been using them for centuries. Yet, around the world, as natural disasters increase and development gains are threatened, sectors continue to operate in silos.

Building on the momentum of the inaugural Global Landscapes Forum, which generated huge support for a landscapes approach, the second Forum focused on implementation. With CIFOR, FAO and UNEP at its helm, the event accelerated the world in putting a landscapes approach into practice.

Leading by example
CIFOR brought together 13 leading international organizations from a wide variety of land-use sectors to work together in coordinating and implementing the Forum.

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The Global Landscapes Forum 2014, Lima, Peru
Chosen as an official Lima Climate Action Highlight by COP20 organizers

  • 95 organizations involved
  • 262 speakers
  • 1134 REDD+ negotiators and policy makers received the outcome statement at the UNFCCC’s COP20
  • 0 net carbon emissions

This is my first time in the Global Landscapes Forum. But I promise that it won’t be my last. Yes, we do have to produce more food. Yes, we do have to protect the forests–and support the communities that depend on them. We cannot succeed in one of these challenges without succeeding in the other. But it can be done.

Paul Polman
CEO Unilever
 
 

The people
1700 participants including 170 UNFCCC negotiators, with speakers including:

  • The former President of Mexico,
  • 14 ministers and vice ministers
  • World leaders in development, finance and investments

Global engagement
A strategy to focus on meaningful engagement rather than numbers saw the outreach and communication create conversations that crossed the globe and grow participation to an unprecedented level.

2074 views of the Summit livestream (increase from 1684 in 2013)
2342 Twitter users tweeting about the Forum (increase from 828 in 2013)

Applying a landscapes approach

96% of delegates plan to share, research or apply the new knowledge gained
93% of delegates said that the Forum was very important or important for networking
73% stated that the Forum helped them build new partnerships

CIFOR is leading a systematic review of research on integrated landscapes approaches for land management to identify what and where future research is needed. Explore the online map at CIFOR.org/landscape-map/

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Read more at landscapes.org

 
 

The energy at the Global Landscapes Forum was electric–charged by the enthusiasm of the scientists, practitioners, indigenous peoples, investors, policy makers, youth and government negotiators who came together to share their latest innovations, tools and ideas for tackling climate change across land uses–from farms to forests and everything in between.

Diji Chandrasekharan
Implementing Partner Focal Point for Profor, World Bank