Operationalizing Integrated Landscape Approaches Towards Socio-ecological Resilience

Integrated landscape approaches focus on the diversity of actors in a landscape and their underlying values and priorities that impact decisions on its use, management and governance. Being inclusive and adaptive, such approaches tackle power asymmetries and allow for a comprehensive assessment of synergies and trade-offs and spillovers that arise from the interaction of different sectoral and stakeholder preferences. By focusing on how such approaches can be put in practice, the event will emphasize connectivity between goals related to production, development and conservation of resources/ ecosystem functions. Furthermore, such approaches foster a whole of society engagement towards restoration, reducing degradation and enhancing socio-ecological benefits.

Based on more than a decade’s experience of the International Partnership for the Satoyama Initiative hosted by the UNU-IAS, good practices to operationalize such an approach, including tools and measures will be highlighted. Also, findings from the UNU-EHS led policy report on “The contribution of land and water management approaches to Sustainable Land Management and achieving Land Degradation Neutrality” will be brought into the discussion. The report examines alignment of land and water management approaches (e.g., agroecology and regenerative agriculture) with SLM & LDN criteria (ecosystem health, food security, human well-being). The findings help to understand how the approaches accommodate varying land management goals and stakeholder needs and preferences, required for integrated landscape management. It further introduces common entry points for enhancing the contribution of approaches with SLM & LDN, including the incorporation of site-specific but complementary approaches at landscape scale synthesizing individual strategies, which strongly supports the operationalization of integrated landscape approaches.

The event aims to advocate and raise awareness about the utility of embedding socio-ecological systems approach in decision making at different scales of policy implementation that requires reimagining landscape governance regimes towards resilient futures. It will also seek collaborators in our efforts to support the effective implementation of the Convention’s objectives.