Technical & networking sessions slot 2

Global Donor Platform for Rural Development (FAO, GIZ, World Bank)

Management of natural resources at a landscape level has proven a successful concept to rehabilitate and conserve natural resources and ecosystems while intensifying productivity and production of agricultural, pastoral and forest systems. The involvement and contribution of local people has resulted in the empowerment of rural communities and stakeholders in the management of the local natural resources and in the building of resilience and sustainable livelihoods.

However, the environmental and societal context for landscape approaches has changed during the last 30 years. Increased population size, notably in developing countries, and changed consumption patterns in emerging economies are exerting more stress on natural resources; unmanaged degradation of natural resources further amplified by the effects of climate change add new challenges to rural production systems. Moreover, while the participation and voice of new stakeholders through decentralization, economic development, enhanced communication via ICT and the empowerment of women and civil society has improved, it also challenges the social and institutional decision making processes.

Based on regional and global reviews of approaches, successes and failures, concepts for landscape approaches have been further developed and adjusted to the new challenges. A new generation of watershed management programs has come up, aiming at sustainable intensification of agricultural production, better ecosystem services, improved food security, climate resilience and poverty reduction. World Bank, FAO and German Development Cooperation (BMZ-GIZ-KFW) will present latest experiences, innovations and best practices with watershed management and case studies from India, East and West Africa.

The session will bring together representatives from governments, donors, civil society and practitioners for networking and discussing the findings.

Three key sector- or issue-specific questions the panel will address:

1. Which framework conditions are necessary in order to achieve all: sustainable intensification of resource use, adaptation to CC and empowerment of the rural population?
2. What are potentials for scaling up the impacts?
3. What are critical success factors?

Background reading:

1. http://www.donorplatform.org/publications/platform-publications.html?Itemid=312
2. ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/009/a0644e/a0644e.pdf
3. http://star-www.giz.de/fetch/2AaQs002Xk50001gkt/giz2012-0237en-soil-water-conservation.pdf
4. FAO Forestry paper 150 (FAO 2006)

Contact Details: pascal.corbe@donorplatform.org

Speakers

• Patrick Verkooijen

  Special Representative for Climate Change, the World Bank

• Dieter Nill

  Advisor and technical coordinator for the sector project Sustainable Agriculture of GIZ (German Development Cooperation)

• Crispino Lobo

  Co-founder of WOTR (the Watershed Organization Trust), heads the Sampada Trust, a microfinance and entrepreneurship development centre

• Sally Bunning

  Senior Land/Soils Officer at the Land and Water Division, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

Rapporteur

• Pascal Corbe

  Secretariat of the Global Donor Platform for Rural Development