The scope of this brief is the restoration of terrestrial landscapes, focused on the Global South. Landscapes are understood as geographical spaces but also as social-ecological systems whereby interactions between bio-geophysical components and associated social actors shape the overall system.
Tag: literature reviews
From Tree Fellers to Planters: A Systematic Review of Forest Restoration Initiatives Involving Local Populations in Central Africa
Forest restoration is a key strategy in tropical regions for mitigating global warming and improving local livelihoods, yet despite significant international donor investments, its effectiveness in Central Africa remains poorly documented. This study systematically reviewed forest restoration initiatives involving local communities, analyzing 64 publications covering 26 projects, most of which applied agroforestry techniques and relied on exotic species. These efforts were predominantly implemented in the Democratic Republic of Congo (12 initiatives), Cameroon (11), Cameroon & Gabon (1), Rwanda (1), and the Central African Republic (1). Findings reveal that most restoration projects followed pre-established technical approaches without sufficient engagement with local communities, lacked monitoring and data-sharing mechanisms, and rarely incorporated prior consent, land arrangements, or benefit-sharing components. To enhance sustainability, this study recommends fostering genuine partnerships with local people, even if it requires adjusting project objectives, and establishing robust monitoring systems to improve future restoration initiatives. These insights are crucial for guiding donors and policymakers toward more effective, community-centered approaches that ensure long-term success in forest restoration efforts across Central Africa.
IPBES Transformative Change Assessment: Chapter 2. Visions of a sustainable world – for nature and people
Chapter 2 explores visions and vision development processes for transformative changes in society. Visions are desirable future states of nature and people shaped by values and worldviews. They include defined purposes, goals and intentional efforts to attain such future states. Actors and groups of actors, shaped by contexts that determine their thinking and practices, develop visions and pathways through multiple processes. Diverse visions illuminate the interdependence of humans-in-nature for a just and sustainable world and help guide policy and decision makers in transformations to address biodiversity loss and nature’s decline. Visions assessed in Chapter 2 come from multiple sources: peer-reviewed and grey literature, civil society initiatives and social movements, alternative economic perspectives, spiritual and religious traditions, fiction, arts, urban and rural coalitions and Indigenous Peoples and local communities. These visions address themes such as oceans, land, economy, ecosystems, technologies and rights for nature.
Institutional challenges to climate change adaptation: A case study on policy action gaps in Uganda
Despite the considerable progress made in the last decade towards building governance systems for climate change adaptation in Africa, implementation still limits positive responses. This study applies an iterative process of field assessments and literature reviews across multiple governance levels and spatial scales to identify constraints to effective formulation and implementation of climate change related policies and strategies in Uganda. Data was collected through sex-segregated participatory vulnerability assessments with farming communities in Rakai district, policy document reviews, and interviews with policy actors at national and district levels. Findings reveal that the key challenges to effective policy implementation are diverse and cut across the policy development and implementation cycle. Policies are mainly developed by central government agencies; other actors are insufficiently involved while local communities are excluded. There is also a communication disconnect between national, district, and community levels. Coupled with limited technical capacity and finances, political interference, and absence of functional implementation structures across these levels, climate change adaptation becomes constrained. We propose strategies that enhance linkages between levels and actors, which will improve policy formulation, implementation and ultimately adaptation by smallholders. © 2017 International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA)
Prioritization of zoonoses of wildlife origin for multisectoral one health collaboration in Guyana, 2022
The human population in Guyana, located on the South American continent, is vulnerable to zoonotic diseases due to an appreciable reliance on Neotropical wildlife as a food source and for trade. An existing suboptimal health surveillance system may affect the effective monitoring of important zoonotic diseases. To effectively address this deficit, a One Health zoonotic disease prioritization workshop was conducted to identify nationally significant zoonoses. Prioritization of zoonotic diseases was conducted for the first time in Guyana & Caribbean region using literature review, prioritization criteria and a risk prioritization tool in combination with a consultative One Health workshop. This involved multisectoral experts from varied disciplines of social, human, animal, and environmental health to prioritize zoonotic diseases using a modified semi-quantitative One Health Zoonotic Disease Prioritization (OHZDP) tool. The inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied to pathogen hazards in existence among wildlife in Guyana during the hazard identification phase. In total, fifty zoonoses were chosen for prioritization. Based on their weighted score, prioritized diseases were ranked in order of relative importance using a one-to-five selection scale. In Guyana, this zoonotic disease prioritization method is the first significant step toward bringing together specialists from the fields of human, animal, and environmental health. Following discussion of the OHZDP Tool output among disease experts, a final zoonotic disease list, including tuberculosis, leptospirosis, gastroenteritis, rabies, coronavirus, orthopoxvirus, viral hemorrhagic fevers, and hepatitis were identified as the top eight priority zoonoses in Guyana. This represents the first prioritization of nationally significant zoonotic diseases in Guyana and the English-speaking Caribbean. This One Health strategy to prioritize these eight zoonoses of wildlife origin is a step that will support future tracking and monitoring for disease prevalence among humans and wildlife and can be used as a decision-making guide for policymakers and stakeholders in Guyana.
Reframing African ecology: Challenging bias and celebrating contribution
Despite Africa’s rapid economic growth and cultural influence, the continent continues to grapple with a lingering perception of neglect in Western discourse, stemming from centuries of ethnic discrimination and colonialism (Ewans, 2017; Jalata, 2013; Karari, 2018). This bias extends to the realm of scientific research, where African ecological studies are often marginalised or dismissed as unfledged, either deliberately or unconsciously. The legacy of historical attitudes and biases perpetuates a narrative that Africa remains an untapped frontier for ecological exploration. This editorial seeks to re-evaluate this perception and proposes an examination of the contributions of African ecology to the development and testing of ecological and conservation biology theory and practice. By exploring the work of both native and foreign scientists, we aim to shed light on the rich scientific heritage of African ecosystems. We conclude that through collaborative efforts and inclusive scholarship, we can challenge biases and elevate African ecological research on a global scale, transcending the remnants of colonial-era arrogance and scientific chauvinism (Luiselli, 2024).
Autonomous conservation: A literature review of concepts, local practices, and their relevance in the tropics
Official conservation activities are absent in many tropical regions, but local people living in and around these areas nonetheless engage in practices that contribute to conservation objectives. These practices, when they arise endogenously, are referred to here as autonomous conservation. They are not well documented and their value and significance remain unclear and debated among scholars, practitioners, and policymakers. We reviewed literature on autonomous conservation practices, combining keyword searches, snowballing, citation tracking, and references from scholars in our network. Eighteen cases of autonomous conservation in the tropics, representing marine (n=11), terrestrial (n=6), and combined systems (n=1) were identified for additional analysis. Our review identified three common themes linking long-standing local practices and conservation. The first theme emphasizes conservation as an outcome achieved through various practices, including those associated with spiritual beliefs and taboos. These practices restrain overharvesting, sustain resources, and protect places and species. Second, the overall effectiveness of these practices is influenced by the strength of social institutions, knowledge transfer mechanisms, and deterrence measures. They are grounded in norms, legitimacy, and respect that promote compliance, maintain social processes, and sustain practices over time. The third theme highlights the nuanced perspectives on conservation ethics within local communities. Some authors view conservation as embedded in local knowledge and practice, while others emphasize the importance of discerning a recognizable conservation motive when labeling these autonomous practices as ‘conservation’. As conservation policies and practices increasingly demand evidence-based approaches, understanding local practices and their relevance in conservation is crucial for more effective and inclusive conservation.
Guidance for a Landscape Approach in Displacement Settings (GLADS): Kenya Case Study
The GLADS Case Study on the landscape of Kakuma Refugee Camp and Kalobeyei Integrated Settlement in Turkana County, Kenya, presents insights from literature review, fieldwork, and local and national consultations. Lessons from the Case Study informed the GLADS Guidance Notes.
Guidance for a Landscape Approach in Displacement Settings (GLADS) is a European Union funded initiative led by CIFOR-ICRAF in partnership with key stakeholders [CIFOR-ICRAF.org/GLADS]. GLADS offers guidance to all stakeholders to contribute to the ecosystem and livelihood resilience of refugees and host communities
Mapping the information landscape of the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration Strategy
The strategy of the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration identifies three pathways for action for overcoming six global barriers thought to hamper upscaling. We evaluated 6,023 peer-reviewed and gray literature papers published over the last two decades to map the information landscape underlying the barriers and associated pathways for action across world regions, terrestrial ecosystem types, restorative interventions and their outcomes. Overall, the literature addressed more the financial and legislative barriers than the technical and research-related ones, supporting the view that social, economic and political factors hamper scaling up ecosystem restoration. Latin America, Africa, and North America were the most prominent regions in the literature, yet differed in the number of publications addressing each barrier. An overwhelming number of publications focused on forests (78%), while grasslands (6%), drylands (3%), and mangroves (2%) received less attention. Across the three pathways for action, the action lines on (1) promoting long-term ecosystem restoration actions and monitoring and (2) education on restoration were the most underrepresented in the literature. In general, restorative interventions assessed rendered positive outcomes except those of a political, legislative or financial nature which reported negative or inconclusive outcomes. Our indicative assessment reveals critical information gaps on barriers, pathways, and types of restorative interventions across world regions, particularly related to specific social issues such as education for ecosystem restoration. Finally, we call for refining “strength of evidence” assessment frameworks that can systematically appraise, synthesize and integrate information on traditional and practitioner knowledge as two essential components for improving decision-making in ecosystem restoration.
Guidance for a Landscape Approach In Displacement Settings (GLADS): Guidance notes
GLADS offers general guidance for all stakeholders in displacement settings to work at a landscape scale through collaboration and cross-sectoral planning in order to contribute to ecosystem and livelihood resilience for refugees and host communities. This GLADS Guidance Notes documents presents five key guidance notes on how to apply the integrated landscape approach in displacement settings, along with sub-notes and examples from three refugee hosting landscapes. More practical experiences from site consultations are published in separate reports, and can be accessed at: CIFOR-ICRAF.org/GLADS