Subnational | PANORAMA

Enhancing public support for landscape restoration and sustainable management at the county level

TRI developed a robust communication plan that included the innovative use of radio, banners, and outreach to successfully garner public support for FLR and sustainable land management. The plan included engaging in partnerships with local radio stations with translations into Swahili, which with far reach in rural villages, are more effective in influencing mindsets and practices related to restoration. TRI also took part in printing banners and flyers highlighting restoration-based policies and convening meetings and trainings, including training focused on strengthening the capacity of the Tana Delta Conservation Forum, which targeted community decision-makers and equipped them to identify policy issues and influence the county planning agendas. Additionally, TRI has created a YouTube Channel and worked to develop a far-reach and effective social media presence, which includes identifying local champions who speak on behalf of the project to better connect with local communities. Overall, TRI’s communication plan has been very successful in enhancing policy messages, helping aid enforcement, sensitizing members of the public, and calling for action.

To successfully implement their communication plan, TRI needed local leaders willing and able to take part in radio shows and interviews. Without them, local outreach would not have been possible, and the communication plan would have lacked connection with local communities. Additionally, TRI was able to share information about restoration initiatives and policies by taking advantage of international environmental days with banners and printed materials that highlighted the need for restoration and sustainable land management.

The communication plan has shown how an outreach and advocacy strategy that targets communities using local champions, local languages, and local channels will ultimately be more successful in influencing mindsets, habits, and practices toward FLR and sustainable land management. By participating in local radio shows with local leaders speaking in Swahili, TRI has been better able to reach individuals living in rural villages with messages from people they trust and know the local context. As the eventual participants in restoration activities, local communities need to believe that FLR is beneficial and worth pursuing. Similarly, by communicating directly with local communities, TRI has been able to learn more about what their wants and priorities are. This allows the elaboration of policies to address local needs more accurately.

Implementation

Subnational

West and Central Africa

Establishing Policy and Regulatory Frameworks to Support Equitable Forest and Landscape Restoration and Sustainable Land Management in Kenya’s Tana Delta

Adriana

Vidal, IUCN

Enhancing public support for landscape restoration and sustainable management at the county level

Mainstreaming landscape restoration and sustainable land management into county budgetary processes

Integrating landscape restoration and sustainable land management into policies and planning processes to enhance conservation and sustainable production.

Supporting goals of reform and technical tools upgrades in SFFs’ governance structures

To ensure SFF reform fully considers the roles of SFFs in providing ecosystem services and developing appropriate supporting legal and financial instruments, TRI has worked to ensure that SFF’s governance structures support the goals of FLR and the ongoing conversion of SFFs to public benefit organizations and technical tools upgrade forest resource management planning. This includes providing key suggestions and facilitating the production of a report on innovative governance and management of SFFs. The report analyzed cases from different SFFs that incorporated governance structures focused on restoring and enhancing forest quality and bringing economic and social benefits to surrounding communities. The project also promoted an FLR-based Forest Research Management (FMR) plan developed at the end of 2020 enhancing key forest eco-services, which covered 16 SFFs incorporating institutional structures supporting SFF reforms. The analysis of governance structures and promotion of an FLR-based forest resource management plan also contributed to the creation of guidelines for the development of innovative forest resource management in SFFs. Set to be launched in September 2023 and promoted in 4,297 SFFs nationwide, the guidelines provide a detailed way of how to start to work toward ecosystem service-based management .

Without the incorporation of governance and institutional structures that support SFF reform in 16 SFFs, TRI would not have been able to assess innovative management of SFFs or develop an FLR-based FMR plan. With 16 SFFs receiving support from national finance and including management structures focusing on enhancing forest quality, the project successfully used on-the-ground experience to recommend SFF governance measures that would promote restoration.

By working to ensure governance structures support SFF reform goals and SFFs have the technical tools to upgrade management planning, TRI China gained critical information on how to develop national and subnational policies that support FLR-centered management and promote the role of SFFs in providing ecosystem services. Using these learnings from applied innovative governance structures, the guidelines developed by TRI also provided comprehensive suggestions on how to determine key ecosystem services and how to select management measures based on landscape approaches.

Implementation

Subnational

National

Ensuring national and subnational forestry policymakers are equipped with information and tools to integrate forest and landscape restoration as a cornerstone of SFFs management

To help develop policies and regulatory frameworks that integrate SFFs as a cornerstone for local FLR implementation, TRI China has worked to ensure national and subnational forestry policymakers have relevant information and useful policy recommendations. This includes promoting a national policy summary of SFFs to the National Forestry and Grassland Administration (NFGA), which provided an overview of forestry policy development in China and recommendations that helped facilitate the elaboration of a special research report on innovative management mechanisms and systems of state-owned forest farms, which aimed to provide a new perspective of SFF management mechanisms that enable SFFs to better play a role in protecting forest resources and providing forest ecosystem services. In 2022, TRI also developed policy suggestions on promoting the green development of SFFs and a research report on the Green Development Strategy of SFFs. The recommendations contributed to multiple policy documents outlining specific actions to be implemented in the three pilot provinces. Additionally, TRI hosted policy workshops, further conveying policy messages and recommendations to key stakeholders.

Without collaboration and willingness to implement sustainable forest management and FLR reforms from the NFGA, the policy review and recommendations would not have been successfully included in national policy guidelines and implementation plans. Similarly, input from academia such as China Forest Academy and the Planning Institute of the NFGA as well as local policy makers was conducive to policy conversations and discussions over development issues and recommendations.

The review of existing forestry policies and regulations and the formulation of recommendations provided many lessons that were passed on to national and subnational forestry policymakers. A review of policies and analysis of their effects on SFF development and sustainable forest management showed which policies promote FLR and which policies need reform in order to move them towards green development. Meanwhile, the recommendations provided by TRI, which included improving the ecological compensation system, taking enhanced forest quality as SFFs’ main responsibility, and encouraging the wise use of forestry resources, presented policymakers with actionable suggestions that promote FLR implementation and sustainable forest management. The workshops also provided beneficial information with fruitful discussions over green development and the sharing of policy-related reports.

Implementation

Subnational

National

Producing FLR Policy Improvement Recommendations Based on Gap Analysis of FLR Policies, Laws, and Regulations

TRI worked to produce recommendations on improving FLR policies based on a gap analysis of existing policies, laws, and regulations on forest management, conservation, and FLR in Sao Tome and Principe. These recommendations were based on a Policy Influence Plan (PIP) drafted by a national consultant in early 2021 and validated by the National Platform for Forest Landscape Restoration in March 2021. The final PIP included three policy objectives and related intermediate results and has since acted as the basis of the project’s policy work. The objectives included the improvement and modification of the inter-institutional collaboration and integration of the National Environmental Council, National Committee on Climate Change, and National Tendering Platforms, the amendment and harmonization of forest and conservation laws, and the update and improvement of the Forest Fund and 2018 Forest Management Plan. The PIP also reviewed previous FLR policies and created the included recommendations to help fill any identified gaps.

The PIP was drafted with the technical assistance of the TRI Global Learning, Financing, and Partnerships project (GCP) specialist from the IUCN, helping to ensure the document was robust exploration FLR policies in Sao Tome. The National Platform for Forest Landscape Restoration also aided the development of the PIP by working to validate the document and make sure it created a good base for the project’s policy work.

The PIP provided TRI and the Directorate of Forests and Biodiversity lessons on what gaps existed in Sao Tome and Principe’s FLR policies and what objectives those developing FLR policies should pursue. The PIP also provided recommendations and information on what results to monitor. As the basis of the rest of the project’s policy work, the knowledge of objectives, results, recommendations, and policy review examined by the PIP will ensure policy outcomes adequately address the country’s forest management, conservation, and FLR needs.

Implementation

Subnational

Empowering the Production of the National Forest and Landscape Restoration Plan to Inform and Guide Forest Management, Conservation, and Restoration Initiatives

In 2020, a team of Directorate of Forests and Biodiversity staff began working to elaborate the Forest Landscape Plan with the technical assistance of the TRI team. The plan, delivered in May 2021, integrated comments and suggestions from validation workshops that consulted over 1,000 people from almost 100 communities across the country. The comprehensive plan includes four main chapters – context, objectives, methodology, and identification of restoration opportunities – that will guide and inform future forest management, conservation, and restoration initiatives in Sao Tome and Principe. Additionally, TRI facilitated the production of Four FLR Landscape plans that will operationalize the FLR interventions included in the national Forest Landscape Plan by outlining an implementation strategy. This includes landscape plans in Sao Tome North, Sao Tome Center, Sao Tome South, and Principe, which were finalized in 2023 and now guide the field restoration work of TRI in terms of priority locations and interventions. Together, the FLR landscape plans and the national Forest Landscape Plan outline the country’s FLR work over the next decade.

Without the consultation of local communities and stakeholders through workshops, the FLR plans would have been developed with significant gaps and failed to consider the priorities of local communities. Additionally, the development of the four FLR Landscape Plans enables the more efficient implementation of the National Forest Landscape Plan as they operationalize the FLR interventions included in the plan.

The elaboration of the national Forest Landscape Plan, as well as the accompanying four FLR Landscape Plans, brought TRI many lessons, including the priorities of local communities for FLR-based policies and how subnational and national policies can work together to successfully implement FLR and sustainable forest management actions over the next decade. By consulting members of communities across the country, TRI learned what individuals want to be included in the FLR plans and which activities would be best for the project’s goals. Additionally, through the elaboration of the national Forest Landscape Plan and the four subnational FLR Landscape Plans, the project also learned how different levels of policy can be elaborated in such a way as to implement and operationalize forest restoration and conservation.

Implementation

Subnational

National

West and Central Africa

Enhancing National Commitment to FLR and Establishing a Conducive Policy Framework for Restoration and Sustainable Forest Management in Sao Tome and Principe

Adriana

Vidal, IUCN

Creating an Operational National Platform for Forest Landscape Restoration to Support and Steer FLR

Empowering the Production of the National Forest and Landscape Restoration Plan to Inform and Guide Forest Management, Conservation, and Restoration Initiatives

Producing FLR Policy Improvement Recommendations Based on Gap Analysis of FLR Policies, Laws, and Regulations

Establishment of local coordinating entity

A sustainable entity is needed to organize the carbon certification scheme, as carbon certification projects run at least for 10-20 years. The role of public decision makers is restricted to providing enabling conditions for carbon projects. Thus, the local coordination and not-for-profit entity "Soil-Carbon Certification Services" (SCCS) has been set up to coordinate the certification of the climate effectiveness of the soil conservation measures. It manages the marketing of said certificates, the MRV system required by the standardization body and finances and controls the quality of SLM extension services implemented by local partners and NGOs.

Upfront financing for setting up the local coordinating entity is key for project development. Establishing collaboration with funding institutions helps to bear the upfront costs. It is recommended to enable public funding sources to leverage private funding. Planning projects within working value chains eases the launching of carbon certification projects in agriculture. Identifying favourable project contexts, e.g. existing efficient extension service systems or well organised farmers, lower the need for initial investments.

The scoping (feasibility studies) and set-up of carbon projects (incl. enabling the coordination entity in MRV, agricultural advisory services, carbon marketing) is recommended to be undertaken by skilled project developers with specific know-how.

A success factor to realize development impacts needs stakeholder management, advocating for an enabling environment, esp. improving the certification frameworks for developing countries, secure in-country mechanisms to benefit poor households, facilitate upfront financing, national policy development and enabling national carbon and SDG accounting to measure impacts.

Entirety

Subnational