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

19 & 26 January 2023. Webinar Resources: Embracing Complexity: How to Implement Integrated Land-Use Initiatives for Sustainable Development

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:

World Bank (2021) Toward a Holistic Approach to Sustainable Development: A Guide to Integrated Land-Use Initiatives # 37 p.

and accompanying 

World Bank (2021) Resource and Case Studies Booklet # 23 p.

The objective of this report is to take stock of lessons learned, document best practices from a range of integrated land use initiatives, facilitate knowledge sharing, and provide a guide for practitioners who are looking to implement this approach. This report provides a basic toolkit for practitioners and raises awareness of the cutting-edge work happening in this space.

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 FAO, 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.

Extracts: 

• Land Tenure Assistance (Mobile Technology and Land Administration) Iringa and Mbeya District, Tanzania Semaly Kisamo, Project Management Specialist - Policy, United States Agency for International Development (USAID)/Tanzania 
• The Yangambi Engagement Landscape: Examples of Cross-Sectoral Coordination and Boundary Setting in the Democratic Republic of Congo Dr. Paolo Cerutti, Senior Scientist and Interim Hub Leader - Nairobi, CIFOR