Resilient Landscapes for Sustainable Trade and Development

Dear Colleagues,

Increasing globalization of the economy has triggered development opportunities but has also had widespread negative effects on the environment and landscapes. The increasing global demand for agro- and tree-based commodities has caused clearing of forests, grasslands and wetlands and associated biodiversity; deterioration of watersheds; and soil and land degradation in agricultural and forest production areas. Furthermore, it is often accompanied with strong geographic inequalities (whether people are close or distant to value hubs), including uncontrolled and poorly designed urban settlements.

In response, many companies involved in international value chains are investing in more environmentally friendly and socially acceptable forms of producing commodities. Such efforts, however, do not sufficiently address a fundamental issue for the landscapes (as socioecological systems) where the commodities are produced: enhancement of the socioecological system’s resilience to outside shocks. This has been well exemplified by the recent health crisis, where workers on oil palm estates in Indonesia lost their source of income, could not produce their own food, nor had alternatives to generate sufficient income to buy their food. Similarly, increasing reliance on cash income from single commodity crops makes farmers and laborers more vulnerable to price volatility and production fluctuations due to weather conditions, which, in most countries, will be exacerbated due to climate change.

Very few cases exist where landscape stakeholders have been able to give meaningful inputs into the decision processes that have led to large-scale agro-commodity cultivation in their landscapes based on their own reflection on their needs, aspirations, opportunities, and threats. Often, the lack of such prior reflection and options’ design results in trade-offs or missed synergies between the cultivation of the agro-commodities, the previously existing forms of cultivation, and measures needed to increase resilience in the landscape, building on the socioecological and economic features of the landscape.

Governance and access to finance appear to be pivotal in achieving resilient landscapes that can adapt effectively to climate change, contribute to development, and are in harmony with societal sustainability concerns that drive the requirements of agro-commodity value chains.

Based on an analysis of multiple cases, Minang et al. (2015; p13) propose, among others, that for landscape investments to bear real, long-term, and sustainable benefits:

• Bottom-up collective action supported by jurisdictional reform is key to success for multi-stakeholder, multi-objective, contested-rights landscapes;
• “[…] Co-investment in stewardship” may be more effective than direct performance-based payments. Polycentric governance can use multiple, nested incentive paradigms with attention to transparency requirements.

Through this Special Issue, we propose to explore the progress that has been made since the publication on resilient multifunctional landscapes by Minang et al. (2015), in terms of vertical and horizontal integration between value chains and landscapes and how this affects the resilience of the landscape; the contribution of different governance initiatives to making landscapes more resilient to climate and other shocks; as well as in terms of progress in co-investments for resilient landscapes.

We propose three sections, each led by an invited review paper and followed by research papers related to the section’s topic:

1) Integrating resilient landscape approaches with agro-commodity value chains and development

We feel that there are two complementary views on the relation between value chains and landscape approaches: an external one coming from the value chains, seeking—with such objectives mostly driven by value chain stakeholders external to the landscape—to achieve sustainable and resilient resource areas with low carbon emissions (many of the zero-deforestation commitments of multinational companies would probably fit in this view, in particular those working with jurisdictional approaches); and an internal one coming from stakeholders in landscapes who reflect on their current situation, consider their needs and aspirations, and define how value chains (international, national, and local) fit into this scheme. The two approaches need to be combined. Of the latter, fewer examples exist, and it is unsure whether it is even possible. In this section, we are seeking scientific evidence of these views or any intermediate views, bringing greater insights into how the relations between local stakeholders and value chain operators work and what their impacts are on the natural and socioeconomic environment in the landscapes. Of interest also will be research papers on the metrics that will help to assess these relations and the combination of the two approaches and of their objectives.

2) Governance challenges and strategies for reconciling landscape resilience with trade and development

Governance has a pivotal role to enable successful Integrated Landscape Management, as well as the relations amongst actors in the landscape and between them and actors external to it. For this section, we are seeking contributions on experiences with different forms of governance, analyzing how these mechanisms address one or more of the following aspects: extent of integration, adaptive management and continual learning, polycentric governance, multi-stakeholder involvement and capacity building; and whether this has led to greater inclusiveness and resilience in the landscapes. In particular, we welcome research articles on the role of specific groups of stakeholders within innovative governance structures/mechanisms and how this affects decision making, benefit distribution, and monitoring and evaluation. What mechanisms exist to identify local power structures (and what is the role of multinationals in this)? How do these affect sustainable development in the landscape, and how can this knowledge be used in the design of improvements? Furthermore, referring to the role of research and knowledge: Is there a greater role for scientists in such mechanisms, and what is needed for scientists to fulfill this role (science–policy interface)? How can we ensure application of local knowledge and values in the design and implementation of innovative development and conservation initiatives?

3) Finance and investment challenges and emerging opportunities for mainstreaming resilience into landscapes

For this section, we are mainly looking for research articles that contribute to the construction of a conceptual framework for the development of integrated landscape portfolios that enable investments that do not fit into more conventional investment portfolios or schemes (Louman et al., 2020). What may such an integrated landscape portfolio entail, how inclusive can this be, and what are (or would be) barriers and risks of such portfolios? What experiences exist that address some of the barriers and risks? How could such portfolios be created and managed? What would be the roles of the public and private sectors in such investment portfolios, and how could sustainable results be ensured?

Authors are free to submit their papers to our SI once the papers meet the scope of any of these sections.

References

Minang, P.A., M. van Noordwijk, O.E. Freeman, L.A. Duguma, C. Mbow, J. de Leeuw, and D. Catacutan. 2015. Introduction and basic propositions. In: Minang, P.A., M. van Noordwijk, O.E. Freeman, C. Mbow, J. de Leeuw, and D. Catacutan (Eds.)(2015). Climate-smart landscapes: multifunctionality in practice. Nairobi, Kenya: World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF).

Bas Louman, Alexandre Meybeck, Gerhard Mulder, Michael Brady, Laurent Fremy, Herman Savenije, Vincent Gitz, and Eveline Trines. 2020. Innovative finance for sustainable landscapes. The CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry (FTA), CIFOR, 2020

Dr. Bas Louman
Dr. Sara Scherr
Dr. Vincent Gitz
Guest Editors

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• resilient landscapes
• climate change
• sustainability
• agro-commodity value chain