This book captures the main lessons and issues emerging from national and regional discussions on 'benefit sharing.' It also presents one case study from each country, selected to highlight issues in different sectors. As we struggle to find ways to strengthen the poverty reduction potential of CBNRM, we hope that this book offers some practical areas to target for future action. 

The Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR) approach, which is still in its nascent stages of development, is rapidly gaining attention as a more appropriate way to restore both degraded forests as well as the surrounding degraded landscape. The great value of this approach is that it integrates forest restoration actions with the desirable objectives of the landscape, and it is undertaken with the full participation of the people who will have a role in the management of the restored areas over the longer term.

In The National Forest Plan of 1977, the poor and mountainous kingdom of Nepal recognized the need for the people’s participation in managing its forests. In an article for RECOFTC, Dr Keshav Kanel of Nepal’s Department of Forest, records the changes in society, governance and economy wrought by this gradual – but not uncontroversial – move to community forestry.

In the kingdom of Thailand, forest ecosystems play a pivotal role in the livelihoods of both rural and urban communities. Rural communities depend upon the forest as a source of food, shelter and income, whereas urban communities rely on forests to sustain the hydrological cycle and as a venue for recreational activities.

Community forestry – as promoted by RECOFTC – provides an effective and cross-cutting solution that is aligned with the SDGs. This includes SDG goal 5 to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. RECOFTC has long understood that the long-term viability of community forest management is dependent on the inclusion of women. RECOFTC works to ensure that policies and programs of forestry stakeholders mainstream gender dimensions so that they are not at risk of creating or exacerbating inequalities, and ignoring women’s contribution to livelihoods.

At the request of the Sri Lankan Government an assessment was designed and conducted as part of the development of the country’s national strategy on REDD+.  The assessment involved applying criteria from the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries, and Forests (VGGT) to analyze the tenure implications for a wide array of proposed policies and measures (PAMs) to address deforestation and forest degradation.  The assessment will help Sri Lanka to prioritize and make investment decisions among the PAMs.

This report explores how forest and farm producer organisations (FFPOs) can best nurture youth and address youth migration. Youth (15-24 years of age) bring energy and innovation to forest and farm production systems. Of a total global youth population of 1.2 billion, 85% live in developing countries where they make up the mainstay of the rural workforce. Yet, 75% of youth are currently classified as underutilised (unemployed; in irregular or informal jobs; or outside of formal education and training).

The Voluntary Guidelines for the Sustainable Management of Natural Tropical Forests constitute an international reference document for the development and improvement of national and subnational guidelines for the sustainable management of natural tropical forests. They also provide a reference on technical issues at the macro (landscape) and micro (forest management unit) scales.

“Landscape approaches” seek to provide tools and concepts for allocating and managing land to achieve social, economic, and environmental objectives in areas where agriculture, mining, and other productive land uses compete with environmental and biodiversity goals. Here we synthesize the current consensus on landscape approaches. This is based on published literature and a consensus-building process to define good practice and is validated by a survey of practitioners.

Increasing demand for food, fiber and raw materials is putting more and more pressure on (often) fragile landscapes. Today, about one-fifth of all cultivated land suffers from some form of degradation, such as salinization, deforestation, erosion, excessive fertilizer use, waterlogging and poor nutrient availability (ELD Initiative 2015). Degradation often goes hand in hand with the worst poverty, affecting the lives, health and livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people.

The terms “landscape” and “landscape approach” have been increasingly applied within the international environmental realm, with many international organizations and nongovernmental organizations using landscapes as an area of focus for addressing multiple objectives, usually related to both environmental and social goals. However, despite a wealth of literature on landscapes and landscape approaches, ideas relating to landscape approaches are diverse and often vague, resulting in ambiguous use of the terms.