Africa in many ways is at a crossroads. Its population in 1960 was estimated to be 257 million, but by 2060 it could be 2.8 billion. People are becoming wealthier and demanding ever more food and other resources. The continent’s wildlife populations and ecosystems are under pressure as never before. Climate change is forcing farmers to grow different crops. Urbanization is changing mindsets. And young people are abandoning the countryside.
In this context, land use planning in line with the Sustainable Development Goals is fiendishly complicated. Striking a balance among competing interests, priorities and variables is a huge challenge.
For instance, building a highway could affect the migration patterns of wild animals, the livelihoods of pastoralists, the type of crops farmers choose to grow, pollution levels, and many other variables.
The United Nations, the African Union, governments and foundations are all calling for integrated approaches to sustainable development initiatives, including land management. Education and training will be key to giving people the skills they need to plan for the future.
The Sahara desert in Merzouga, Morocco © Lefidele
A small step in the right direction
A four-day Landscape Leadership Workshop, to be held outside Nairobi, Kenya in March 2018, aims to help farmer leaders, land managers, and development and environmental practitioners learn the fundamentals of integrated landscape management, and sharpen their leadership skills.
“Integrated Landscape Management is not, at its heart, a technocratic phenomenon,” says Sara Scherr, president of EcoAgriculture Partners and Chair of the Landscapes for People, Food and Nature Initiative.
“To really succeed, ILM needs dedicated, empowered landscape champions: skilled and empathetic people who can inspire trust, create safe spaces for open dialogue and innovation, and who are committed for the long-term to meeting ambitious landscape goals.”
The workshop will be facilitated by EcoAgriculture Partners, a non-profit dedicated to advancing sustainable landscapes, along with guest experts, at the African Institute for Capacity Development.
South African landscape ©: Pixabay
EcoAgriculture Partners also convenes the international Landscape for People, Food and Nature (LPFN) Initiative, of which UN Environment is a co-organizer.
“My New Year's Resolution for 2017 was to connect more deeply and directly with landscape champions around the world,” says Scherr.
“The Landscape Leadership Workshop for Africa, along with the African Landscapes Dialogue in March of this year, the Mesoamerican Landscapes Dialogue we're co-organizing in early 2018, and the North American Landscapes Dialogue in planning for the middle of 2018 are ways we're achieving that vision,” she adds.
The workshop will use a mix of methods to develop the knowledge, attitudes and skills that effective landscape leaders need to develop or improve partnerships. It will also help them assess the need and potential for landscape-scale action, develop landscape action plans, acquire the sustainable financing needed to implement plans, and stimulate policy support for integrated, cross-sectoral management and governance.
Flickr, Lesotho ©: Tjeerd Wiersma
The course includes a full-day field trip that enables participants to interact with leaders of two well-established integrated landscape initiatives – one originated by a community-based organization and the other by a coalition of national and local government, industry and civil society organizations.
“We have organized five leadership courses in Africa since 2006 for invited leaders, and other courses held in specific landscapes, but this is the first time we have had an open registration workshop for anyone working on Integrated Landscape Management in Africa,” says Scherr.
“We have seen a very encouraging overall increase in the demand for training in the concepts, skills and techniques needed to do Integrated Landscape Management, and we're excited that we can play a key role in filling that need.”
For more information: Siham.Drissi[at]unep.org
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