Subnational | PANORAMA

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

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

Develop a Follow-Up and Monitoring Plan

The objective of this building block is to provide technical teams with parameters for measuring the effectiveness of restoration actions in the field.

The monitoring plan should include elements to evaluate the following parameters: 1) degree of development of planted species and their response capacity, 2) changes in water patterns and abundance, 3) changes in biodiversity dynamics (presence and abundance), as well as in the disappearance of exotic and/or invasive species, 4) changes in the environmental conditions of the area, and 5) changes in land dynamics and use, as well as public use and community demands.

Social auditing favors accountability in the quality and quantity of public investment in the territories.
Co-administration or co-management agreements favor accountability in the quality and quantity of non-governmental investment in the territories.

The creation of local governance platforms favors the creation of robust and transparent accountability systems.
The data provided by the monitoring system should have a technical component (how have we progressed in the restoration of our area?) and a social component (what are the monetary and non-monetary benefits of the investments made?), so that the actors involved maintain a real and effective interest in contributing to the restoration of these sites.

Monitoring

Documentation and dissemination of results

Elaborate a Zoning Proposal and Restoration Plan.

The objective of this building block is to provide the technical teams with the technical parameters to identify the sites where restoration should be carried out and the selection of effective actions for ecosystem recovery.

Zoning requires: 1) identification of areas for natural and assisted recovery, 2) areas for reforestation with native and endemic plants, and, 3) areas with potential for environmentally friendly productive activities.

The proposal for restoration actions includes: 1) the selection of activities to be implemented for each zoned area, 2) the estimation of resources needed to implement the restoration activities, 3) the distribution of responsibilities according to the competencies and resources available to the interested parties, and 4) the time required to implement actions taking into account the scope and resources available.

The quality of the previous diagnoses, the experience of the technical staff that accompanies these processes and the active participation of the stakeholders, facilitates decision making and the most cost-effective selection of restoration activities at the intervention sites.

The ecosystem functions to be restored, as well as the ecological and social context, determine the type of activities to be chosen and the geographic area to be intervened:

Where opportunities exist to enhance biodiversity at the landscape level, activities should concentrate on sites located in or around protected areas or other forests of high conservation value.
Where degradation has led to ecosystem functioning failures, activities should be concentrated along riparian strips, steep slopes, etc.
Where opportunities exist to improve human well-being and, in particular, to support income-generating activities, priority areas should be appropriate sites for the production of high-value species.

Elaborate a Diagnosis on the State of Biodiversity and Socio-Economic Situation.

Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources of the Dominican Republic

Flowchart of the Ecological Restoration Process in Dominican Republic

Ministerio de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales de Republica Dominicana

The objective of this building block is to provide technical teams with the biological parameters necessary to determine the current state of an ecosystem in order to determine the appropriate restoration measures to be implemented in that specific ecosystem.

The diagnosis of the state of the biodiversity is done by documentary review and field visits, where we perform: 1) identification of the site including the composition, structure, and different strata that make up the ecosystem, 2) description of the ecosystem services, 3) floristic composition, 4) diversity of vertebrate and invertebrate fauna groups, 5) presence of invasive species, and 6) identification of threats and degradation factors.

The socio-economic situation is carried out by documentary review and field visits, where the following is done: 1) identification of the current users of the site, 2) description of the productive activities carried out by the users, 3) clarification of the land tenure status of the site, 4) identification of local actors with presence in the territory, 5) identification of the potential local development with ecologically sustainable activities.

The sites should be referably of high national interest for the provision of ecosystem goods and services for the population and the conservation of existing Natural Protected Areas that are legally endorsed.
Have resources available for the incorporation of additional analysis such as GIS and other technological tools, which facilitate the delimitation and rapid characterization of the sites to have a first approximation of the general conditions.

The process can be demanding due to the level of detail and interdisciplinarity required. Therefore, it is necessary to plan the time, human and material resources that will be used for the documentary, geographic and field analyses.

Involve local stakeholders from the beginning to ensure the sustainability of the actions, take advantage of local knowledge and interest in the conservation of ecosystems for the benefits they obtain from them.

Incorporate Coffee Development Measures into Forestry Policies

Forestry Incentive Projects - SAF modality with adjustments to Coffee Growing

INAB

The purpose of this building block is to develop agroforestry systems management policies in line with coffee growing and link them to the country's forestry development policies, responding to the challenges of the market and applicable international legislation.

In essence, it is necessary to promote incentive policies (economic and/or commercial) that stimulate agroforestry in coffee plantations at the same time, the value chains in the forestry sector as small timber.

This requires two main elements:

The ability to adjust forestry programs to accommodate agroforestry elements, without undermining coffee production but maintaining the spirit of the forestry policy.
Encourage intersectoral dialogue around the issue of agroforestry in coffee plantations, in order to identify points of technical and political coincidence.

To illustrate this building block, the case of the Forestry Incentives Program of Guatemala -PROBOSQUE- is used; which made adjustments to the modality of forestry incentives in the agroforestry modality, changing parameters to include the cultivation of coffee, having a greater impact.

To have a clear forest policy framework, which first, determines the scope of its objective as a public policy, the subject that expects to benefit and the expected results of its implementation; second, the issues where it can and should generate synergies to achieve the objectives of the forest policy.
To have consolidated public policy instruments that allow interaction with other productive sectors. Guatemala's Forestry Incentives Program -PROBOSQUE- originated in 1996 and continues to operate to date.

The development of pilot initiatives is required to evaluate and/or test the technical hypotheses of the different stakeholders in adjusting public policy instruments; in this case the public forestry sector and the organized private coffee sector.
Extensive internal and external discussion and consultation processes are required among the different stakeholders to achieve the benefits of the different sectors, without affecting the institutional and legal mandates that the stakeholders must comply with.
Technical materials need to be developed in order to communicate and disseminate information to potential stakeholders on the new modalities offered by public policy instruments.

Sistemas Agroforestales en el Programa PROBOSQUE

Integrated Approaches to Peacebuilding Through Joint Livelihoods

Farmers and Herders Learning how to make Briquettes with Animal and Crop waste 2

GIZ PEACECORE

Farmers and herders in Ancha Community making hay and silage with their harvested congo grass

GIZ PEACECORE

The PEACECORE project uses sustainable, climate conscious livelihood support as a tool to restore traditional, and create new, trade and exchange opportunities for farmers and herders in 6 Local Government Areas of Plateau State, Nigeria. The aim is to replace negative conflict behaviors with mutually beneficial economic relations, while mediation and dialogue also supported through the first building block. Participants from communities affected by conflict have been brought together and trained across various organic agricultural and dairy value chain opportunities, cooperative formation and operation, and conflict resolution. Through such efforts we have been able to bring together conflicting livelihood groups of farmers and herders to establish trade agreements and form cooperatives around value chains including organic fertilizer supply, supply of cow dung and crop waste for briquette production, fodder and forage production, dairy and tofu production etc.

The selection of value chains that are beneficial to both parties such as fodder production, organic fertilizer.
Strong reputation of GIZ in implementation of agricultural and development programmes meant participants were willing to trust the process.
Willingness of conflicting partners to find solutions to the conflict.
Availability of resources for the project and initiatives such as technical skills and equipment, financing etc meant that participants could create tangible structures and operations.

Trust building is essential as well as involving participants across all stages of project interventions.
Adding value to existing business and products is a useful first step to engagement.
New ideas and processes are welcome as long as the benefits can be perceived.
Using connectors (things that both parties need in common) is essential.

Entirety

Local

Subnational

Measuring the Impacts on Ecosystem Services

Ecosystem Services Impact Measurement (1)

GIZ

Ecosystem Services Impact Measurement (2)

GIZ

Example of Impact Measurement

GIZ

Data Management for Impact Measurement

GIZ

Example of Direct and Indirect Impact of Restoration Actions

GIZ

The objective of this building block is to provide developers and implementers of ecosystem and landscape restoration projects with a tool that uses remote sensing, augmentation factors, and the integration of the two as a way to evaluate the effectiveness of restoration interventions on the ground.

To evaluate the line of impact of ecosystem services based on remote sensing, baseline data (baseline, management units and recent images) are collected and the differential between the initial and final year is calculated through: the definition of the increment tables, the normalization and adjustment of images, and the modeling of ecosystem services.

The increment factor approach is used for cropland and/or livestock where spectral indices derived from satellite imagery fail to accurately detect vegetation changes; and is calculated through: definition of baseline data, categorization of restoration practices and estimation of increment factors per implemented measure.

By executing this process, the area directly and indirectly impacted is available.

Have a baseline with the same variables and geospatial models to make credible and reliable comparisons over time.
Have a database of management units that clearly reflects the restoration actions that were executed in the field.
Implement a training and capacity building process with an assigned advisor, where doubts and uncertainties about methodological aspects and technologies to be used are resolved, which facilitates their adoption.

The databases that include the restoration measures in the territories should be reliable and preferably have been verified through supervision and control of data in the field.
If the developers and executors of restoration projects implement these methods in different areas, it is important to homogenize the variables, their treatment and the scale at which they execute them.

Monitoring

Documentation and dissemination of results

Guía Metodológica para la Medición de Impactos en los Servicios Ecosistémicos