1. Conceptual Framing of the Landscape Approach
Amity Doolittle
Senior Research Scientist and Lecturer
Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies
New Haven, Connecticut USA
25 April 2016

2. Outline Define landscape Define landscape approach
Define scale of landscape approach
Starting Point for Shared Understanding
Goals of Land Use Dialogue
Social Learning and Adaptive Management
Challenges

3. Landscape A socio-ecological system which includes
natural and human-modified ecosystems
influenced by distinct ecological, historical, political, economic and cultural processes and activities
A braid definition of landscape

4. Landscape approach
Conceptual approach to understanding land use that recognizes there are often competing interests of different stakeholders
Landscape approach broadly defined
Includes 4 more specific aspects that relate to important SDG need to
ensure food supplies through sustainable agriculture
ensure availability and sustainable management of water
promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth
Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of  ecosystems,
Source:

5. Landscape approach
Aims to reconcile competing social, economic and environmental objectives through national and local level actions
equitably address land-use trade-offs
enhance carbon-intensive landscape management

6. Landscape approach
Aims to ensure the realization of local level needs and action (i.e. the interests of different stakeholders)
Moves away from the often unsustainable sectoral approach to land management

7. Landscape approach
Encourages collaboration with industry within global commodity supply chains to improved land use governance
reducing carbon emissions and pressure on natural resources

8. Scale of landscape approach
Is defined by local stakeholders:
small enough to maintain a degree of manageability
large enough to be able to deliver multiple functions to stakeholders with different interests.
Source:

9. Scale of landscape approach
The boundaries are set by stakeholders and may correspond to:
natural boundaries
distinct land features
socially defined areas
indigenous territories
jurisdictional and administrative boundaries

10. Starting Point
Shared understanding of various stakeholder perspectives
Conflicts over resources in landscapes are exacerbated by misunderstanding of the perspectives and motivations of other stakeholders’ management or claims on resources

11. Starting Point Shared understanding of:
Spatial relationships within the landscape between different land uses and land users

12. Starting Point Shared understanding of institutional or policy context
Include an understanding the relationships and power dynamics between institutions
Source:

13. Starting point
A shared understanding of the appropriate level of cooperation among stakeholders
Information sharing
one-way flow of information, often down top
Engagement
a two-way flow of information and exchange of views
Collaboration
joint activities, where the initiator, often the government, retains decision-making authority
Joint decision-making
collaboration with shared control over decisions
Empowerment
control over decision-making, resources and activities is transferred to other stakeholders.

14. Goals of Land Use Dialogue
Conservation goals
How can we conserve, maintain and restore native biodiversity and critical ecosystem services
Production goals
Provide sustainable production of food, fuel, fiber, forests, and fodder
Livelihood goals
Sustain and enhance the livelihoods and wellbeing of people
Broadly speaking

15. Goals of Land Use Dialogue
Engage all relevant stakeholders
Including those involved in external processes and plans
Identifying hidden actors, such as absentee landowners
Identify land users who have not traditionally been engage in land use decision-making process
Foster discussion between the various stakeholders
Through long term engagement TFD aims t

16. Goals of Land Use Dialogue
Gather knowledge for enabling
responsible land use, sustainable development
maintenance or restoration of ecosystem functions
Source:

17. Goals of Land Use Dialogue
Support improved land use governance and inclusive development and responsive to climate change
Set objectives and develop local ideas and activities that integrate public and private interests

18. Goals of Land Use Dialogue
Identify level of openness by different stakeholder groups to engage in collaborative landscapes management
Develop support from corporate initiatives within global commodity supply

19. Goals of Land Use Dialogue
Develop an understanding of the relationship between forest and agricultural sectors ecosystem functions

20. Goals of Land Use Dialogue
Address the challenges of competing demands for land and water use
intensification of forestry and farming
conservation and restoration of ecosystem services

21. Social learning and adaptive management
Focus on idea generation, implementation, monitoring and reassessing
Is a new paradigm for collaboration possible?
Support the translation and diffusion of new knowledge and practices

22. Social learning and adaptive management
Stimulate adaptive social learning by
involving actors at multiple levels—local to global
international actors amplify the impact of national organizations and institutions
by sharing the knowledge and experiences gained from working in diverse landscapes.

23. Challenges
How can we move beyond the conceptual level towards managing at the landscape scale for multiple objectives?

24. Challenges
How can we integrate public and private needs into the landscape and foster public-private partnerships?
How can we reconcile the sometimes-competing objectives of economic development and environmental sustainability?
How do we move across institutional boundaries that traditionally hinder integration?
How do we measure success (or failure) and define whether a landscape is being managed “sustainably”?

25. Sources
The Sustainable Landscapes Books
Sayer, Jeffrey, Terry Sunderland, Jaboury Ghazoul, Jean-Laurent Pfund, Douglas Sheil, Erik Meijaard, Michelle Venter et al. "Ten principles for a landscape approach to reconciling agriculture, conservation, and other competing land uses." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences110, no. 21 (2013):
DeFries, R., and C. Rosenzweig. "Toward a whole-landscape approach for sustainable land use in the tropics." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107, no. 46 (2010):
Frost, Peter, Bruce Campbell, Gabriel Medina, and Leonard Usongo. "Landscape-scale approaches for integrated natural resource management in tropical forest landscapes." Ecology and Society 11, no. 2 (2006): Articel-30.
Cumming, Graeme S., Per Olsson, F. S. Chapin III, and C. S. Holling. "Resilience, experimentation, and scale mismatches in social-ecological landscapes." Landscape Ecology 28, no. 6 (2013):
Outcome Statement of the 2015 Global Landscapes Forum
Landscapes Measures Center
Assessing future impacts of land use policies in Brazil. Presentation at the Global Landscapes Forum 2015, in Paris, France alongside COP21