Embracing Complexity: How to Implement Integrated Land-Use Initiatives for Sustainable Development

Embracing Complexity: How to Implement Integrated Land-Use Initiatives for Sustainable Development

January 19 & 26 - Webinar Resources

Integrated land-use initiatives challenge practitioners to look beyond traditional sectoral development projects and engage with the complexity of entire landscapes to tackle some of the biggest challenges of our time: poverty, climate change, biodiversity loss, and deforestation, among others. Reflecting the promise of this approach, the number of initiatives has grown substantially over the last decade or so, leading to a wide range of approaches and a large amount of innovation. However, there is limited consensus on best practice in integrated land use. 

To fill these gaps, the BioCarbon Fund Initiative for Sustainable Forest Landscapes (ISFL) has taken stock of best practices and lessons learned from more than 150 initiatives implemented globally in a new report, Toward a Holistic Approach to Sustainable Development: A Guide to Integrated Land-Use Initiatives and accompanying Resource and Case Studies Booklet. 

This webinar series, marking the launch of the Guide to Integrated Land-Use Initiatives, sought to open the conversation by convening practitioners, academics, and other experts around the world to share their insights and discuss the way forward. The webinars were designed to cover the eight main themes identified in ISFL’s report through the presentation and analysis of promising case studies from around the world.  

The first webinar on January 19th focused on multistakeholder engagement, environmental and economic dynamics of integrated land use, as well as monitoring, evaluation, and learning. Presenters and panelists included policy experts and academics from Scotland and Taiwan, along with representatives from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, EcoAgriculture Partners and Rainforest Alliance.   

The second webinar on January 26th covered the broad strokes of boundary setting, land tenure, financing strategies and cross-sectoral coordination of integrated land-use initiatives. Presenters and panelists discussed case studies from Colombia, the DRC, Indonesia, and Tanzania, and represented organizations including CIFOR and the World Bank.