The FOREST LANDSCAPE RESTORATION Newsletter

The FOREST LANDSCAPE RESTORATION Newsletter: News from the Forest
Landscape Restoration Network – Welcome to the 5th - summer - issue (July 2003)!
The purpose of this newsletter is to provide you with a brief overview of recent information on
Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR) and related topics.
Please note that our FLR document centre (http://intranet.panda.org/restoration) has moved
from the WWF Global Intranet to WWF's external website. You can now find all the FLR
information on WWF's Forests For Life Programme - FLR website
http://www.panda.org/forests/restoration/.
With restoration taking on more importance internationally, we have decided that the time is
ripe for this move to our external site. In this way, we hope to share the valuable information
with an even wider audience interested in FLR.
You are encouraged to contribute information to the FLR newsletter! Please send any FLR
related issues that you wish to share with the group, to the editor.
We appreciate your active involvement as a member of the informal FLR network!
5th Newsletter - Table of contents:
1. INTERNATIONAL MEETINGS & EVENTS
2. FLR PROJECT NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD
3. PUBLICATIONS & LINKS
1. INTERNATIONAL MEETINGS & EVENTS:
A Global Partnership to promote Forest Landscape Restoration launched
In March 2003, at FAO's Committee on Forests, the Global Partnership on Forest Landscape
Restoration was officially launched. The overall goal of this "Global partnership on FLR" is to
contribute to building assets and improving prospects for people and nature through restored
forest landscapes. A number of activities will be undertaken including:
1. the exchange of information on where and how forest landscape restoration could be
undertaken or reinforced
2. an analysis of how forest landscape restoration contributes to the implementation of
existing international and regional laws and agreements
3. the presentation of case studies, highlighting the lessons learned from field projects
4. the organisation of sub-regional or regional workshops and an international workshop on
forest landscape restoration
5. the development and promotion of a forest landscape restoration investment portfolio.
The founding members of this partnership are IUCN, WWF and the UK Forestry commission.
However additional members who have already adhered include: CIFOR, ITTO, UNEPWCMC, the government of Kenya, the UNFF and CBD Secretariats and CARE International.
Read more on:
http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/forests/news/news.cfm?uNewsID=6444
SERI's 2003 Conference in Austin, Texas
Assembling the Pieces: Restoration, Design & Landscape Ecology, 19-22 November 2003
The 15th Annual International SER Conference will focus on the design aspects of
restoration, with the expectation of significant participation by landscape architecture, land
planning, civil engineering, and landscape ecology professionals. The themes include: 1.
Restoration Education, 2. Invasive Species Control, 3. Linking Restoration goals to Social
Projects and 4. Ecological Restoration on a Landscape Scale.
More information can be found on SERI's website under:
http://www.ser.org/meeting.php?pg=annualconference
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At the UNFF inter-sessional in New Zealand in March, in a keynote address, the
director of WWF's Forest programme, Dr Chris Elliott presented WWF's Vision for
planted forests
WWF will work with governments, private companies, financial institutions and civil society
organisations to improve plantations by:
• Advocating effective targeting of public funds towards the restoration of multi-functional
forest landscapes and away from commercial production-based activities
• Lobbying against socially or environmentally damaging plantations
• Promoting landscape-scale conservation to balance trade-offs between intensive wood
production and other forest goods and services.
• Identifying a common vision for the future of plantations via the establishment of an
independent, multi-stakeholder plantations commission.
More on this and other papers can be found under:
http://www.maf.govt.nz/mafnet/unff-planted-forestry-meeting/index.htm
Global Biodiversity on Arid Lands (22-24 August in Havana, Cuba)
The first "inter-regional" session of the Global Biodiversity Forum (GBF) on arid lands will
focus on the linkages between arid ecosystems and livelihoods. It will target dialogues and
exchanges between the regional arid biogeographic zones of Latin America, Africa, and Asia
including islands and will be convened in conjunction with the sixth Conference of the Parties
to the UNCCD, (25 August - 5 September 2003).
The GBF will aim promoting:
i) concrete recommendations on how to balance biodiversity conservation needs with
requirements for improving livelihoods in arid lands;
ii) greater understanding of the merit of the Ecosystem Approach as a tool to advise and
guide development of policies and management plans for arid lands;
iii) the value and importance of integration of local knowledge and equity including gender
equality in developing and implementing biodiversity policies and management plans in arid
lands;
iv) technical networks and partnerships to achieve conservation and livelihood requirements
in arid lands, and to encourage and strengthen joint programmes of work between national,
regional and global institutions and conventions.
More under:
http://www.gbf.ch/present_session.asp?no=35&lg=EN
IUCN: Commission on Ecosystem Management
The Commission on Ecosystem Management (CEM) has identified Ecosystem Restoration as
one of its four priority programmatic elements. It has initiated an Ecosystem Restoration
Working Group together with the Society for Ecological Restoration International (SERI) to
formulate and provide leadership to an Ecosystem Restoration Work Programme.
Their second meeting was held in Malaysia, in March 2003 to agree on:1. a Rationale for
Ecological Restoration, 2. a Framework to guide selection and analysis of case studies of
ecological restoration, and 3. a work plan with defined targets, outputs, activities and roles
and responsibilities for the period leading up to the next IUCN World Conservation Congress
in November 2004.
More under:
http://www.iucn.org/themes/cem/work/restoration/rest.htm
2. FLR PROJECT NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD
Africa
Starting restoration work in Madagascar's moist forest
Madagascar is poised to start work on Forest Landscape Restoration in its degraded moist
forest. As a result of the workshop held in March, a national working group on FLR was set
up, 5 priority landscapes were identified and a number of criteria for prioritising these
landscapes were elaborated jointly. A team will now begin a reconnaissance phase in each of
the five landscapes to select a pilot one where WWF, its partners and key stakeholders can
start identifying forest landscape restoration priorities.
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Madagascar est prête à démarrer des activités de restauration au niveau des paysages dans
sa forêt humide dégradée. Suite à l'atelier sur la restauration des paysages forestiers (RPF)
en mars, un groupe de travail sur la RPF fut établi, 5 paysages prioritaires ont été identifiés et
des critères permettant la priorisation ont été développés. Une équipe va maintenant
démarrer la phase de reconnaissance dans chacun des 5 paysages afin de sélectionner un
pilote où le WWF, ses partenaires et les parties prenantes identifiées pourront commencer à
identifier des activités prioritaires en matière de restauration des paysages forestiers.
The workshop report (French) and action plan (French and English) can be found on
our website
Le rapport de l'atelier et le plan d'action se trouvent sur notre site web:
http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/forests/what_we_do/restoration/projects/africa.cfm
Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria engage in Forest Landscape Restoration
Over 50 participants were present at the workshop in Morocco to begin discussing ways of
engaging on FLR in this region of North Africa. The interest and responses were very positive
with some concrete recommendations emanating. For instance:
• Establish urgently pilot national and transboundary programmes in partnership with
State entities, NGOs and local communities, based on concertation among actors
• Extend existing programmes and actions at the Mediterranean level for Forest
Landscape Restoration in North Africa
• Establish a network in the Maghreb to facilitate the spread of know how and the
exchange of experiences.
Plus de 50 participants étaient présents à l'atelier au Maroc afin de définir l'approche de la
restauration des paysages forestier dans la region. L'intérêt et l'engagement des participants
étaient très positif aboutissant à des recommandations très concrête, telles:
• Mettre en place, d'urgence, des programmes pilotes nationaux et tranfrontaliers en
partenariat entre les organes de l'Etat, des ONGs, et les communautés locales, basés
sur une concertation entre tous les acteurs.
• Etendre les programmes et actions en cours au niveau méditerranéen pour la
restauration des paysages forestiers en Afrique du Nord (exemples: système agro-sylvopastoral du chêne liège, restauration écologique des conifères de montagne et le projet
"Desertlinks" basé sur la participation sociale à la restauration forestière paysagère pour
la lutte contre la désertification);
• Mettre en place un réseau maghrébin pour faciliter la circulation du savoir faire et
l'échange d'expériences.
The workshop report (French) and conclusions and recommendations (English) can be
found on our website
Le rapport de l'atelier et le plan d'action se trouvent sur notre site web:
http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/forests/what_we_do/restoration/projects/africa.cfm
Report on FLR in Tanzania
In Tanzania, in the eastern coastal forest ecoregion, exploratory work (field visits and
consultations, background analysis) has begun to identify one of three priority landscapes
(from within nationally identified conservation priorities) for a programme on Forest
Landscape Restoration. This programme would build on WWF's and its partners' existing
work in Tanzania while expanding it to the landscape level. It would also serve as an
important pilot in this ecoregion which has been identified by Brookes et al (Conservation
Biology, Aug. 2002) as being amongst the most serious at risk of losing endemic species
through habitat loss, with forest cover having been seriously fragmented and only small and
isolated patches remaining.
Report from First Sub-Regional Meeting to Promote Forest Landscape Restoration in
West Africa
Accra, Ghana, March 24-26, 2003
Thirty five participants representing nine (9) West African countries, (namely: Senegal, Sierra
Leone, Liberia, Guinea, Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo and Nigeria) participated in
the first workshop on Forest Landscape Restoration in West Africa organised by WWF in
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Ghana on 24-26 March in collaboration with the Ghanaian Ministry of Land and Forests. Key
recommendations from the workshop include:
1. that WWF and partners, should be engaged, as soon as possible, in initiating at least one
pilot Forest Landscape Restoration project in the sub-region.
2. that WWF should collaborate with national governments, NGOs and regional /
international partners such as the FAO, IUCN, ITTO, and eventually CIFOR in the
identification of forest landscapes in the West African sub-region, needing FLR action;
3. that partnerships in Forest Landscape Restoration should be encouraged through
processes such as Memoranda of Understanding (MoU), as well as through collaboration
on specific site projects or related initiatives;
4. that Governments, and concerned national and international partners should set up a
mechanism or mechanisms to finance Forest Landscape Restoration pilot action in each
West African country;
5. Governments and intergovernmental agencies should encourage integration of Forest
Landscape Restoration in forest programmes and other national rural development, and
poverty alleviation planning and programming processes;
Trente cinq participants representant neuf (9) pays d'Afrique de l'Ouest, (le Séngéal, le Sierra
Leone, le Libéria, la Guinée, la Côte d’Ivoire, le Burkina Faso, le Ghana, le Togo et le Nigéria)
ont participés au premier atelier de Restauration des Paysages Forestiers pour l'Afrique de
l'Ouest organisé par le WWF au Ghana du 24 au 26 mars en collaboration avec le Ministère
Ghanéen des Sols et Forêts. Les recommandations clefs de l'atelier incluent:
1. que le WWF et ses partenaires, devrait s'engager dès que possible dans l'initiation d'un
projet pilote de Restauration des Paysages Forestiers dans la sous-région.
2. que le WWF devrait collaborer avec les gouvernements nationaux, des ONGs et les
partenaires regionaux / internationaux tels que la FAO, l'UICN, l'ITTO, et CIFOR dans
l'identification des paysages forestiers de la région ayant besoin de restauration
3. les partenariats en Restauration des Paysages Forestiers devraient être encouragés
4. que les Gouvernements, et acteurs concernés au niveau national et international
devraient établir des mécanismes de financement d'actions pilotes de Restauration des
Paysages Forestiers dans chaque pays d' Afrique de l'ouest.
5. les agences Gouvernementales et intergouvernementales devraient encourager
l'intégration de la Restauration des Paysages Forestiers dans leurs programmes
forestiers et d'autres plans nationaux de développement rural, ainsi que dans les plans de
réduction de la pauvreté.
The workshop report can be found on our website:
http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/forests/what_we_do/restoration/projects/africa.cfm
Asia & The Pacific
China: Joint Workshop on Biodiversity Conservation Priority Setting and Work Strategy
Over 60 ecology and biodiversity experts, government officials, WWF conservation experts,
and other stakeholders attended a workshop organized by the Sichuan Forestry Department,
Gansu Forestry Department and WWF in late March. At the meeting, the future vision of
biodiversity conservation in the Minshan landscape in the Forests of the Upper Yangtze
(FUY) Ecoregion was developed and plans for immediate conservation action in the Minshan
Mountains were put in place. The workshop marked the beginning of the full-scale
implementation of WWF’s Minshan Initiative.
More information can be found on:
http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/forests/what_we_do/restoration/projects/china.cfm
or on: http://www.wwfchina.org/english/loca.php?loca=167
Vietnam: Monitoring at a landscape level
Monitoring conservation impact, and particularly restoration impact, at a landscape scale
takes time and involves a diverse range of actors. For this reason, WWF has devoted
significant time to engage with key stakeholders from government and community-levels to
identify a number of possible indicators that would help determine a baseline and then
progress in a restoration programme for the Central Annamites landscape. The resulting
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monitoring framework is a shared piece of work that offers a good platform that can provide a
number of different projects (NGO, government and local) with measures of how they are
doing and how what they are doing is contributing to the broader conservation and socioeconomic priorities for the landscape.
The report can be found on:
http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/forests/what_we_do/restoration/projects/lower_mekong.c
fm
Europe
Update on Bulgaria and training of staff
Building on the previous successes in terms of forest strategy for the Bulgarian Danube
Island, the Auen Institute of WWF Germany organised a training seminar for 30 officers from
the Bulgarian forest service. This seminar which took place in March and April, focussed on
near-natural forestry and the options for transforming poplar monocultures in floodplains into
near-natural forests. The programme was a combination between presentations and field
visits with practical discussions in the field with the representatives of the visited forest offices
along the Rhine and other forest offices. Ten themes were presented and discussed,
including: Forest management following nature conservation criteria ( selective use of trees)
The whole workshop was considered by all participants as very successful. The workshop,
with all its practical demonstrations in the field offered participants a new way of thinking and
gave new impetus for their work in Bulgaria.
Scotland:
Borders Forest Trust is organising a conference one decade after the original Restoring
Borders Woodland conference, in St Boswells on Thursday 28th and Friday 29th August
2003. The conference will bring together people from a variety of backgrounds and
disciplines, who are involved or interested in trees and woodlands in the Borders landscape,
and who will discuss examples of and opportunities for promoting a woodland culture in the
Scottish Borders.
Invited speakers and panel discussion will explore ways of expanding native woodland cover
and woodland related activities involving: education, communities, art and timber utilisation.
Speakers and attendees will also discuss issues surrounding re-establishment of native
animals, trees and other plants, and assess opportunities and constraints affecting ecological
restoration in southern Scotland.
More information can be found on their website:
http://www.bordersforesttrust.org/conference.htm
3. PUBLICATIONS:
WWF's FLR Brochure in French
Given the immense success of WWF's brochure on Forest Landscape Restoration in five
ecoregions, a translation was made into French by WWF France and is now available on line.
Vu l'immense succès de la brochure du WWF sur la Restauration des paysages forestiers
dans cinq écorégions, le WWF France a traduit cette brochure en français et elle est
maintenant disponible sous:
http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/forests/what_we_do/restoration/restore_inform
ation.cfm
Fast-Wood Forestry: Myths and Realities
Fast-Wood Forestry—Myths and Realities (written by Christian Cossalter and Charlie PyeSmith) was launched at the United Nations Forum on Forests in Geneva in late May. It
provides a comprehensive analysis of the arguments for and against fast-wood plantations.
Environmentalists have frequently exaggerated the negative impact of fast-wood plantations.
At the same time plantation companies have underestimated the damage that fast-wood
forestry has done, both to the environment and local communities. This brochure can be
found on CIFOR's website under:
http://www.cifor.cgiar.org/
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Restoring Ancient Woodlands in Scotland
The UK Forestry Commission has produced a "site assessment guide" for restoration of
ancient woodlands in the Scottish context. This and more can be downloaded from the
Commission's website on:
http://www.forestry.gov.uk/website/publications.nsf/searchpub/?SearchView&Query=(restorati
on)&SearchOrder=1&SearchMax=0&SearchWV=TRUE&SearchThesaurus=TRUE
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To comment on this edition or contribute to the next, please contact the editor Katrin Schikorr:
[email protected]
This newsletter has been developed by the Forest Landscape Restoration team, part of
WWF's Forests For Life Programme at WWF International. The Programme is managed by
Stephanie Mansourian, e-mail: [email protected]
If you wish to unsubscribe from the FLR Newsletter mailing list, please reply to this email with
"unsubscribe" in the subject line. If you wish to subscribe, please contact the editor Katrin
Schikorr: [email protected]
If any of the links provided don't work - copy and paste them into your browser window.
Lafarge is committed to continuous improvement in its environmental performance.
Accordingly, Lafarge and WWF have become worldwide partners in an effort to
preserve biodiversity and restore forest landscapes. Through the partnership ,
Lafarge is supporting WWF's Forest Landscape Restoration project, which is part of
the WWF's Forests for Life programme.
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