The climate crisis highlights the importance of forests in both mitigating and adapting to climate change, as well as in supporting the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). To promote the better understanding and valuing of the critical role forests play, and to develop holistic approaches to protecting and maintaining them, the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) has adopted the mission “to bring scientific knowledge to bear on major decisions affecting the world’s tropical forests and the people who depend on them”. This paper highlights an important topic in CIFOR’s research portfolio – forests’ diverse roles in climate change mitigation and adaptation and how forest governance ensures the equitable and sustainable wellbeing of people, both locally and globally. As one of the founding donor countries of CIFOR, the Government of Japan has consistently supported CIFOR’s research through Japanese scientists collaborating in research projects and/or serving as members of CIFOR’s Board. This paper, therefore, specifically highlights research projects funded directly by the Government of Japan, in particular.
Tag: Climate change adaptation
Agroforestry Simulation Board: Papan Peraga untuk Simulasi Perancangan Agroforestri Secara Partisipatif
Agroforestri merupakan solusi pengelolaan lahan yang berkontribusi terhadap mitigasi dan adaptasi perubahan iklim, mulai dari skala kebun hingga bentang lahan. Sistem ini banyak dipraktikkan oleh petani swadaya berdasarkan konteks lokal dan strategi penghidupan mereka. Untuk meningkatkan adopsi agroforestri cerdas iklim, diperlukan pendekatan partisipatif melalui penyuluhan yang mencakup perancangan bersama (co-design), pembangunan, dan pendampingan. Proses co-design memungkinkan integrasi perspektif dan preferensi petani dalam pengelolaan lahan. Namun, kapasitas penyuluh lapangan masih terbatas dan membutuhkan alat bantu untuk memperkuat efektivitas transfer pengetahuan dan replikasi praktik agroforestri yang adaptif terhadap iklim.
Bridging Technology and Local Participation: A Collaborative Approach for Peatland and Mangrove Restoration
Nowadays, global advancements in technology have revolutionized natural resource management and conservation efforts, offering new tools and frameworks to monitor and manage ecosystems. The integration of satellite imagery, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), drones, and mobile applications has facilitated real-time environmental data collection and analysis, enabling more informed decision-making. An effective monitoring system is recognized as essential to successful restoration and conservation efforts, as it allows to support adaptive management by measuring progress and helping to identify corrective actions needed for a long-term process. Learning from requirements, problems, limitations, and the emergence of new technologies, we develop a Community Based Restoration Monitoring System (CBRMS). The system is designed to be flexible, accessible, cost-effective, and user friendly. By utilizing affordable technologies, it ensures adoption by communities with limited resources also requires minimal technical expertise to maintain the system. The system can be adapted to different ecological and social contexts, ensuring its scalability and sustainability. It empowers local communities for an active role in monitoring environmental conditions and fostering local awareness that led to enhanced conservation efforts. This paper demonstrates the value of the CBRMS in supporting sustainable resource management and conservation efforts through combining participatory monitoring, science and technology. CBRMS serves as a bridge between local participation and modern ecological practices according to evidence of its application for community-based mangrove and peatland restoration in Indonesia. It measures the survival and growth of planted trees and related carbon sequestration. This system also demonstrates local participation in contributing to climate change adaptation and mitigation.
Trees and water: A survey of the perception and decisions of landowners in New Zealand
Understanding how landowners perceive the relationship between trees and water is crucial for shaping land-use decisions and water resource management. This study surveyed 363 landowners across three regions in New Zealand, revealing that 70% had trees on their farms and valued them for biodiversity, erosion control, livestock shade, and water quality. While tree–water interactions are often viewed through a biophysical lens, this research highlights the importance of socio-cultural values and perceptions. Older landowners and those less concerned about water quality or flood risk were less likely to plant trees. The study underscores the need for integrated socio-hydrological approaches to inform sustainable land and water governance.
Climate change vulnerability and drivers of low maize yields under smallholder farming systems in semi-arid area of Marange in Zimbabwe
In Zimbabwe’s semi-arid Marange region, smallholder farmers continue to grow maize under rain-fed conditions despite high vulnerability to climate change and extremely low yields. This study, based on data from 107 households, found that maize yields averaged just 355 kg/ha, with wide variation linked to agronomic practices and access to information. Techniques such as planting basins, mulching, and strategic field placement improved yields, while socio-economic factors like access to extension services and weather data also played a role. However, overall productivity remains critically low. The findings highlight the urgent need for integrated interventions—improved agronomy, land management, and climate information access—to sustainably enhance maize production in vulnerable farming systems.
Adaptability factors of ethnic minority to climate change: evidence from the mountainous farmers of Vietnam
Ethnic minority farmers in northern Vietnam face increasing vulnerability due to climate change, which affects crop yields, livestock health, and household well-being. This study surveyed 362 farmers across Bac Kan Province to examine how climate change influences agricultural practices and the adoption of adaptation strategies. Using multivariate probit regression, the study identified key factors influencing adaptation choices, including education, access to credit, forestland ownership, and farmers’ health. Adaptation strategies ranged from crop diversification and improved varieties to migration and financial coping mechanisms. The findings emphasize the importance of tailoring agricultural and food security programs to the aspirations and constraints of ethnic minority communities in fragile environments.
Flood prediction: analyzing land use scenarios and strategies in Sumber Brantas and Kali Konto watersheds in East Java, Indonesia
This study evaluates land use scenarios for flood prediction in East Java, Indonesia, using Business-as-Usual (BAU), Regional Spatial Planning (RSP), and Land Capability (LC) approaches. Using multitemporal LULC data and the InVEST model, the study reveals that forest and agroforestry loss under BAU correlates with a 16% increase in flood hazard. In contrast, RSP and LC scenarios reduce flood risk by 16% and 10%, respectively. The LC scenario, which aligns land use with ecological capacity, proves most effective. These findings underscore the importance of integrating land capability into spatial planning to mitigate flood hazards and support sustainable watershed management.
Resilience thinking for the Mediterranean basin: How to respond to fire, drought, and flood at the landscape level
Key messages
- The Mediterranean Basin, home to around 7% of the world’s population, is highly vulnerable to climate change, and thus urgently requires enhancing landscape resilience. Rising temperatures, demographic pressure, and unequal access to resources – especially between the North and South – are converging to create systemic risks for people and ecosystems.
- Increased incidence of wildfires, droughts, and floods – amplified by climate change – has been and is transforming Mediterranean landscapes. Their frequency, intensity, and cascading effects are undermining food security, ecosystem services, carbon sequestration, and livelihoods, particularly in rural areas. Without proactive resilience-enhancing strategies, these risks will deepen and exceed adaptive capacity of the region’s landscapes.
- Operationalizing resilience requires defining what to make resilient, to which hazards, and for whose benefit. This paper advances that agenda by applying the “Resilience of what, to what, for whom?” framework to Mediterranean rural landscapes, offering a foundation for practical assessment and planning.
- Tailored resilience strategies are needed for the distinct contexts of the Northern and Southern Mediterranean. In the North (Southern Europe and Türkiye), priorities include restoring mosaic rural landscapes, managing wildfire risk through proactive strategies to reduce fuel load, and reinvigorating low-intensity land uses. In the South (North Africa and parts of the Middle East), resilience efforts should focus on sustaining extensive pastoral systems, improving water retention and drought resilience of cropping systems, and enhancing infrastructure for climate-adapted agricultural practices. Differentiated policies should reflect the contrasting land use, demographic, and climatic pressures across subregions.
- Inclusive and equitable governance remains a critical dimension of resilience building, particularly in light of power asymmetries and differing stakeholder priorities. While the brief underlines the importance of inclusive processes and avoiding elite capture, a deeper exploration of governance structures and capacities across the region – especially their variation by context – will be essential to inform implementable strategies.
Aligning to Target 2: PERU National Dialogue
Ecosystem degradation, exacerbated by climate change, increases ecosystem fragmentation and community vulnerability, necessitating scaled-up restoration efforts with strong political support. Effective restoration requires addressing governance challenges, fostering policy coherence, and enhancing collaboration among sectors and stakeholders. Establishing a permanent dialogue platform ensures integrated planning and implementation of restoration strategies. The success of the National Restoration Roadmap depends on stakeholder collaboration, capacity development, and integrated monitoring to achieve resilient ecosystems, sustained biodiversity, and long-term community benefits.
Building farmers’ capacity and knowledge for climate resilience in agribusiness: Eastern Province, Rwanda. A climate resilience handbook for farmers
The aim of this handbook is to build farmers’ knowledge and capacity for enhanced adaptive capacity through agricultural and tree-based value chains in the EP of Rwanda. The Green Climate Fund has provided financial resources to the Transforming Eastern Province through Adaptation (TREPA) project, whose aims include enhancing the climate resilience of agricultural value chains and commodities. Diversification and value addition are considered effective adaptation strategies to protect the most vulnerable population against climate shocks (Mulwa and Visser 2020). The most important climate shocks in the EP include droughts, floods, pests and diseases.