Terry Sunderland, Principal Scientist & Team Leader, Sustainable Landscapes and Food Systems PEFC Conference: ”Sustainable Landscapes, Sustainable Livelihoods” Bali, 17th November 2016

1. BRIDGING THE GAP: SUSTAINABLE FORESTS,
AGRICULTURE AND FOOD SECURITY
Terry Sunderland, Principal Scientist & Team Leader, Sustainable Landscapes and
Food Systems
PEFC Conference: ”Sustainable Landscapes, Sustainable Livelihoods”
Bali, 17th November 2016

2. OUR NEW GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORKS

3. NEW STRATEGY FOR NEW TIMES
 9.6 billion people in 2050
 Changing consumption patterns
 Continued economic growth
 Expectations of justice and equity
 Migrations to seek new opportunities
 Increased climate variability
Only 30-40 years from now, the world
will not look as it does today.

4. REDEFINING FORESTRY:
FUNDAMENTALS FOR ACHIEVING THE SDG’S
 Food, nutrition and health
 Water, energy and housing
 Livelihoods and employment
 Climate change adaptation and
mitigation
 Biodiversity conservation
 Resilience and safety nets
 To environmental and
economic external shocks

5. CIFOR STRATEGY 2016-2025
VISION
CIFOR envisions a more equitable world
where forestry and landscapes enhance
the environment and well-being for all.

7. CONTEXT
From the CIFOR Strategy 2015-2025:
• Integration of diverse communities of
practice in the sustainable landscapes
debate: to be achieved by reconciling the
principles of multi-functionality with the
practice of managing sustainable
landscapes for forestry, food security and
nutrition and other benefits.
• Increased policy recognition of the need
to better integrate the forestry and
agricultural sectors: to be achieved by
using the landscape approach as the
convening factor (c.f. simultaneous yet
separate declarations on forestry and
agriculture).

8. FORESTS IN LANDSCAPES
• One billion+ people rely on forest products
for consumption and income in some way
(Agrawal et al. 2013)
• Safety-net during times of food and income
insecurity (Wunder et al. 2014)
• Wild harvested meat and freshwater fish
provides 30-80% of protein intake for many
rural communities (Nasi et al. 2011; McIntyre
et al. 2016)
• 75% of world’s population rely on biodiversity
for primary health care (WHO), 2003)
• 40%-60% of global food production comes
from diverse smallholder agricultural systems
in complex landscapes (FAO 2011)
• Long tradition of managing forests for food
(van Vliet et al. 2011)
• Forests sustaining agriculture through
ecosystem services provision (Foli et al.
2014)

9. THE ORIGIN OF THE “LANDSCAPE APPROACH”
1980s 1990s 2000s 2010 - present
1980s: Integrated
Rural
Development
1998: Integrated Natural
Resource Management
(INRM)
1985 onwards: Integrated
Conservation & Development
projects (ICDPs)
Contributing Sciences:
Ecosystem Management
Landscape Ecology
Island biogeography
Conservation rooted
frameworks e.g. “Ecosystem
Approach”
1992: “Landscape Approach”
first documented (Barrett
1992)
Last decade:
(Integrated)
Landscape Approach
frameworks

10. EMBRACING THE LANDSCAPE APPROACH –
INTEGRATED SOLUTIONS FOR PEOPLE ACROSS SECTORS
“Despite some barriers to
implementation, a landscape approach
has considerable potential to meet social
and environmental objectives at local
scales while aiding national commitments
to addressing ongoing global challenges.”
Reed et al. 2016, Global Change Biology.

11. OPERATIONALISING THE LANDSCAPE APPROACH: HOW?
THEORY PRACTICE
E.g. Ten principles Real integration
Local stakeholders
Conservation: WCS, CI
Development: USAID LESTARI
Private sector: e.g. APP, APRIL
Government: e.g. Ministry of Env. & Forestry

12. • LA still considered under-theorised but there is a vast body of knowledge now, it
really is time to move beyond conceptualization
• Acknowledgement of importance of early, continuous and regular engagement of
stakeholders and how to make LA’s locally relevant and with local entry points
• Previous integrated interventions always seem to fall out of favour because “the
next big challenge” comes along
• Can we predict what is the next big challenge and incorporate this into LA
thinking?
• Need maximum evidence of impact – with local stakeholders involved in
monitoring, enhance engagement, empowerment

13. FOREST FUNCTIONS AND LINKS TO FSN

14. FORESTS AND FOOD SECURITY: THE EVIDENCE
Seasonality
Off-farm income
Agriculture

15. “Forests are a major repository
of food and other resources that
play a crucial role in food
security. In addition, maintaining
diversity in agricultural
production systems leads to
increased resilience to shocks
particularly in the context of a
changing climate”. Editorial:
Arnold et al. 2011

16. “Our main findings can be summarized as follows: there is a statistically
significant positive relationship between tree cover and dietary diversity;
fruit and vegetable consumption increases with tree cover until a peak of
45% tree cover. Overall our findings suggest that children in Africa
who live in areas with more tree cover have more diverse and
nutritious diets”. Ickowitz et al., 2014

17. "Our findings suggest that deforestation and land use change may have
unforeseen consequences on the quality of local people’s diets. A better
understanding of the contribution of forest foods to local diets is needed to
understand the true impact that the loss of forests may have for nutrition in
the face of agricultural expansion. If indeed forests substantially
contribute to dietary quality in some areas as the results here imply,
forest loss may result in unforeseen, adverse consequences on
nutrition for local people." Rowland et al. 2016

18. “Areas of swidden/agroforestry, natural forest, timber and agricultural
tree crop plantations were all associated with more frequent
consumption of food groups rich in micronutrients. The
swidden/agroforestry land class was the landscape associated with
more frequent consumption of the largest number of micronutrient rich
food groups. Swidden cultivation in is often viewed as a backward practice
that is an impediment to food security in Indonesia and destructive of the
environment. If further research corroborates that swidden farming actually
results in better nutrition than the practices that replace it, Indonesian policy
makers may need to reconsider their views on this land use”. Ickowitz et al.,
2016

19. FORESTS SUSTAINING AGRICULTURE
How does landscape configuration maximise the provision of these
goods and services for both sustainable forestry and food production?
Water regulation
Climate regulation
Pollination
Pest control
Foli et al. 2014; Reed et al. forthcoming

20. GENDER ISSUES
“There is strong and clear
evidence of the
importance of including
women in forest
management groups for
better resource
governance and
conservation outcomes”.
Leisher et al. 2016
“Women and children
collect a diverse range
of plant based forest
foods while men are
primarily responsible
for animal protein
sources”.
Sunderland et al. 2014

21. GETTING THE MESSAGE OUT

22. TRAINING JOURNALISTS THIS WEEK IN BALI

23. WHAT ROLE FOR FOREST CERTIFICATION?
• Biodiversity conservation &
enhancement
• Ecosystem services (including
ForCES)
• Local employment & welfare
• Indigenous people’s rights
• Access and sustainable use
= Sustainable forestry!!

24. cifor.org
blog.cifor.org
ForestsTreesAgroforestry.org
THANK YOU
t.sunderland@cgiar.org
@TCHSunderland