National | PANORAMA

West and Central Africa

Strengthening national and county level policy and regulatory frameworks to support forest and landscape restoration in Kenya

Adriana

Vidal, IUCN

Developing a Forest and Landscape Restoration (FLR) Implementation Action Plan and Monitoring Framework

Facilitating the Integration of Natural Resource Management and FLR Policies at the County and Local Levels

Developing a Policy Framework for the Sustainable Commercialization of Non-Timber Forest Products and Services

North Africa

Enhancing Climate Change Adaptation in North Coast and Nile Delta in Egypt

Waleed

Ali

North Africa

Enhancing Climate Change Adaptation in North Coast and Nile Delta in Egypt

Waleed

Ali

Reviewing Policy and Regulatory Frameworks to Promote the Use of Innovative and Sustainable Financial Mechanisms

TRI Pakistan reviewed policy and regulatory frameworks to identify, understand, and facilitate the use of innovative and sustainable financial mechanisms such as payment for ecosystems and services and targeted funs at district level for providing incentives for ecosystem services (PES). This includes an initial scoping mission to assess the feasibility of payment for ecosystem services, which includes training 26 participants on ecosystem services valuation, incentives, and PES. This PES scheme was piloted in Chitral with a consultant engaged in studying the various options for generating resources for conservation and sustainable land management of the Chilgoza Forest. TRI Pakistan also produced an economic valuation study of the Chilgoza Forest ecosystem services, which outlined to the government how much economic gain FLR and sustainable land management can provide and pushed decision makers to allocate greater resources to forest restoration. Additionally, TRI Pakistan convened capacity building workshops of hundreds of staff on the use of fuel-efficient stoves and gasifiers. Together, this review allowed TRI Pakistan to learn more about potential FLR interventions and conservation incentives.

To be able to review frameworks that facilitate the use of innovative and sustainable financial mechanisms, TRI Pakistan needed to train participants on schemes like the payment for ecosystem services and on the use of technology like fuel efficient stoves and gasifiers. With trainings, participants could implement the interventions and provide enough data on their feasibility. Additionally, providing government bodies with an economic valuation study that shows the value of restoration will prove invaluable in pursuing FLR policies.

Reviewing policy and regulatory frameworks that could promote innovative and sustainable financial mechanisms taught TRI Pakistan about the feasibility of potential interventions to facilitate restoration and sustainable land management in Chilgoza Forest ecosystems. Studying the effects and implementation of payments for ecosystem service as well as the use of fuel-efficient stoves and gasifiers, TRI Pakistan learned how the mechanisms affected restoration and whether they were interventions worth pursuing. Using these findings, the team was able to make better recommendations for policies being elaborated. Additionally, the economic valuation study of the Chilgoza forests ecosystem services provided TRI Pakistan with critical information showing the economic value restoration and sustainable land management could provide for communities. This further allowed TRI Pakistan to provide recommendations and pursue policy development as the study also shows government bodies drafting policy the economic potential of FLR.

Implementation

Subnational

National

Developing Forest Management and Landscape Restoration Frameworks for Chilgoza Forest Ecosystems

To strengthen Pakistan’s policies and legal frameworks in support of FLR and sustainable land management, TRI Pakistan has facilitated the development of forest management and landscape restoration frameworks for Chilgoza Forest Ecosystems in the four districts of Sherani, Chitral, South West, and Gilgit Baltisan with technical input and hosting and engaging in the consultation of stakeholders. While the Chilgoza Forest Multi-Function Management Plan for the Sherani District has been finalized and a draft for the South West Multi-Function Management Plan has been drafted, the plans for Chitral and Gilgit Baltisan are still under development. The plans are drafted by the respective district’s forest departments and work to address economic concerns, biodiversity conservation, and the key drivers of degradation. The plans are also built on the findings of the participatory ROAM assessments TRI Pakistan conducted, which included key stakeholders from all four project districts and identified restoration opportunities and priority interventions such as more efficient cooking stoves. Ultimately, these plans facilitate the implementation of FLR and sustainable land management at the local level as they are made with input from local stakeholders and outline management measures designed with their communities’ priorities in mind.

In order to develop these policies in a way that best addresses the needs of the four districts, TRI Pakistan’s ROAM assessments were vital. As a way to ensure hotspots are given priority, properly conducting the assessments was also critical. Pakistan trained forty-four professionals and key stakeholders from all districts on the ROAM methodology to ensure the process was inclusive as possible and effective in identifying priorities to be addressed in the management plans.

From the development of the four districts’ Chilgoza Forest Multi-Functional Management Plans, TRI Pakistan learned multiple lessons on how forest management should be approached at the local level and how differences in local communities affect the prioritized goals and measures. Beginning with the ROAM assessments, TRI Pakistan was able to see where the districts differed in their prioritized restoration areas, which interventions they pursued, and the overall goals and economic needs of local community groups. From these assessment findings, the respective forest departments, in elaborating the plans, also showed the team how their district context affected the way they approached FLR and sustainable land management. Understanding how the different local communities approach forest management further helped TRI Pakistan facilitate the government’s transition in considering local and private sector perspectives in the implementation of national forest and climate policies.

Inception phase

National

Developing policy and regulatory frameworks to promote restoration, sustainable land management, and emissions reductions

TRI CAR is actively working to facilitate the development of policy and regulatory frameworks that promote restoration, sustainable land management, the maintenance and enhancement of carbon stocks in forests and other lands uses, and emission reductions from the land use, land-use change, and forestry (LULUCF) sector and agriculture. This includes initiating discussions with the Ministry of Water, Forests, Hunting, and Fishing on the revision process of CAR’s forest policy. TRI CAR will bring all of the stakeholders together to define and plan the process of revision and provide the ministry with technical input. TRI CAR is also conducting documentary analysis of local development plans of five forest communities – Mbata, Mongoumba, Nola, Pissa, and Yobé – and is in discussions with the Ministry of Environment and Ministry of Territorial Planning to develop a joint management plan for the southwest territory so the local development plans can be implemented in a broader vision. Additionally, TRI CAR is helping upgrade the Wood Energy Supply Plan (WISDOM) in Bangui with recommendations developed from research on wood energy production and market.

TRI CAR is able to help develop policies support FLR and sustainable land management because of the political will of CAR’s major ministries to improving laws and regulations to support its restoration goals. It is also possible because of TRI CAR’s ability to bring together the various stakeholders implicated in the LULUCF sector and restoration activities in CAR. Without input and recommendations from the numerous actors, the policies could not as adequately address the diverse priorities of everyone affected by FLR.

Through the process of helping CAR’s various ministries update policies related to restoration, sustainable land management, and emissions reductions, TRI CAR has learned multiple lessons around the process of policy elaboration in CAR and how policy updates can better address the needs of the various stakeholders. Between working with the Ministry of Water, Forests, Hunting, and Fishing on the revision of the country’s forest policy and the Ministry of Environment and Ministry of Territorial Planning on developing a joint management plan for the southwest territory to better implement the local development plans, TRI CAR is learning how the different ministries approach policy development and how the team can work with them all to ensure policy cohesion across sectors. Additionally, in its work to provide information on the market and practices of wood energy production in Bangui, TRI CAR has gained knowledge around how wood energy can affect restoration and how best to approach its management.

Implementation

Subnational

National

Filling knowledge gaps in restoration opportunities and the valuation of ecosystem services

To increase CAR’s commitment to forest and landscape restoration at the national and subnational levels, TRI CAR is working to fill existing knowledge gaps in the valuation of ecosystem services and restoration opportunities. To do this, TRI CAR has contracted two graduate students with the Central African Agricultural Research Institute (ICRA) and the Higher Institute for Rural Development (ISDR) to carry out a valuation of ecosystem services. As the projects develop, the on-the-ground research will inform TRI CAR’s technical recommendations for the various policies being elaborated. Similarly, to help identify restoration opportunities, TRI has initiated the creation of a geospatial working group that will focus on finding restoration priority areas. This will also lay a base for TRI CAR’s policy input, as the team will pursue measures focused on the restoration opportunities identified in geospatial data analysis.

To successfully engage in projects that fill knowledge gaps necessary for policy elaboration, the work of ICRA and ISDR in supervising and leading the graduate projects looking at the valuation of ecosystem services will be critical. Additionally, to best enable the technical working group working on analysis on geospatial data, TRI CAR has conducted trainings on how to collect and use data analysis. The trainings ensured the working group most effectively analyzes the geospatial data.

Contracting two projects to research the valuation of ecosystem services and bringing together a technical working group to conduct analysis of geospatial data to identify restoration opportunities, TRI CAR is learning critical lessons around how to work with local institutions to facilitate knowledge generation and how to train participants to best implement project research. TRI CAR is growing its understanding of how working with institutes like ICRA and ISDR through the graduate projects will help policy commitment and how collaborating with outside actors can provide greater resources for filling knowledge gaps. TRI CAR is also strengthening its ability to train participants and local actors in collecting and analyzing data required for the effective development of the country’s policies. Ultimately, TRI CAR’s work has also provided the team with invaluable information it can use to provide technical input and recommendations for the elaboration of national policies related to restoration and sustainable land management.

Inception phase

National

West and Central Africa

Increasing CAR's Commitment to Forest and Landscape Restoration at the National and Sub-National Levels

Adriana

Vidal, IUCN

Filling knowledge gaps in restoration opportunities and the valuation of ecosystem services

Developing policy and regulatory frameworks to promote restoration, sustainable land management, and emissions reductions

South Asia

Strengthening and Implementing National and Provincial FLR Policies and Legal Frameworks to Maximize Sustainable Land Management in Chilgoza Forest Ecosystem

Leah

Bronstein

Developing Forest Management and Landscape Restoration Frameworks for Chilgoza Forest Ecosystems

Reviewing Policy and Regulatory Frameworks to Promote the Use of Innovative and Sustainable Financial Mechanisms

Improving strategic and regulatory frameworks for mangrove restoration

To further develop a restoration strategy, TRI has worked to improve the regulatory frameworks in Guinea-Bissau. This includes supporting the elaboration of the National Mangrove Law and National Mangrove Strategy. Although an initial draft of the law produced in 2016 was ultimately unsuccessful because of too few resources, TRI brought in jurist and socio-anthropologist experts to develop a new draft that integrated all parameters of mangrove restoration learned from the participatory assessment phase. Once formulated, the law was presented to PLANTA (National Platform for Mangrove Restoration) members to provide feedback. The platform, which was created by TRI in 2021, includes , includes national and international partners working on mangrove landscapes, such as the Institute for Biodiversity and Protected Areas, the Directorate General for Forest and Fauna, and the Ministry of Agriculture. Since receiving feedback, TRI assisted in producing a second draft in July 2023, which must now go through the approval process. Similarly, the first draft of the national strategy was developed by the TRI team and submitted to national stakeholders in the PLANTA network for feedback. Once finalized, the policies will need to be approved or taken up by government bodies to ensure a restoration strategy is in place.

The drafts of the mangrove policies have been enabled by the participation and technical input from the PLANTA members. Without the participation of national stakeholders, the policies would not be robust or complete and would have extreme difficulty passing through the approval process. While most members provided technical assistance and feedback, international NGOs Bosque Communidad and Wetlands International also provided financial assistance necessary to hire consultants and elaborate the draft policies.

Through developing, reviewing, and negotiating mangrove restoration policies, TRI has been able to gather valuable information regarding what gaps exist in mangrove management and ensure the involvement of various stakeholders to elaborate a robust and sustainable policy framework. With each round of input, PLANTA members ensure the finalized National Mangrove Law and Strategy will address every aspect of mangrove restoration. Similarly, working with a socio-anthropologist whose task included integrating community knowledge into the law allowed the process to avoid excluding vital community input and traditional knowledge.

Implementation

National