Landscape restoration has been defined as “a planned process that aims to regain ecological integrity and enhance human well-being in deforested or degraded landscapes”. For instance, forest landscape restoration (FLR) initiatives are incorporated into international and national forest policies, and are driven by voluntary national pledges and private sector commitments. Roughly 350 million hectares have been committed for restoration by 2030 under the Bonn Challenge and the UN Declaration on Forests. Importantly, top-down technocratic reforestation focused on monocrop plantations is not considered to be FLR as defined by the Bonn Challenge and by the more than 40 countries that have made forest restoration commitments under the Challenge .Rather, efforts to restore degraded landscapes must be linked to improving the lives and livelihoods of people who live and work in forests and forested landscapes, especially in the Global South. Global discussion of restoration has focused largely on restoration of degraded forestland. This emphasis has a variety of explanations, including the strong link to reforestation and achievement of global climate goals. However, restoration should focus on landscapes holistically, in ways that take account of various land uses—forests, agriculture and livestock production, among others— and with how land use decisions, livelihood needs and macroeconomic factors and policy decisions shape social and ecological outcomes in landscapes at various scales. Importantly, the UN will ensure that that all landscapes will be included in global and national restoration agendas.
Youth in Landscapes Camp: Immersive Leadership Program
This year (2019), the Youth in landscapes (YIL) Initiative together with the Global Landscapes Forum (GLF) organized the first ever YIL Camp in Accra Ghana. This activity brought together young leaders from across the globe to learn about conservation activities of two communities in Ghana and to develop solutions to some of issues that face these landscapes. The Youth in Landscapes Initiative is a global network of young people working and studying in landscapes around the world. It is a partnership between the International Forestry Students’ Association, the Young Professionals for Agricultural Development and the Global Agro-ecology Alliance. The initiative’s mission is to connect and empower young people to become leaders for sustainable development.
With many of today’s most pressing global problem, the best solutions are often found, formed and implemented on local levels. As youth play an increasingly important role in the rise to meet global challenges, the GLF and the Youth in Landscapes Initiative (YIL) delivered a 2-day “Camp Landscape” to inform the minds, hearts, and skills of future leaders. In the lead up to GLF Accra 2019, the program brought together young change-makers from around the world to local communities in Ghana with stories and lessons to share. It took an analytical look at two local communities that have successfully achieved its goals for a more sustainable landscape. Throughout the whole experience, interactive workshops, community building activities and conversations with key stakeholders inspired and encouraged youth participants to become front-line actors in their countries. The YIL camp was a two days immersion process to familiarize participants with hands on experience in landscape restoration in Accra landscapes which could be applicable in other regions of the world and it includes observation and sharing innovative ideas on way forward. The A-Rocha Ghana and the Development Institute were featured in the camping activities as they were field guides. The YIL camp had about 30 participants who were grouped into two: Avu Lagoon team and the Muni-Pomadze with each group led by the Development Institute and A Rocha Ghana respectively. The aim was to study the Ramzar site and develop plans to bring about restoring the degraded landscape.
Muni-Pomadze
The Muni-Pomadze team had about 15 young people who were engaged for two days in interactive workshops, community building and in-depth conversations with key stakeholders at the camp site; through a working relationship with A-Rocha Ghana and the Development Institute. As part of the learning experience, the team visited Woarabebe community with about 150 inhabitants and a chief as head of the community. The community is a mangrove area characterized by several plants diversity and the major occupation is fish farming. A-Rocha Ghana has over the years been involved in restoration activities in the community by putting in place measures to restore degraded landscape in the community and also provide alternate source of livelihood for the people especially women in the community. The team also visited a forest reserve with very thick plantation where strategies at restoring the landscape were discussed. The power of Human management in landscape restoration is one of the best take-home messages from the Youth in Landscapes Camp. Working with local communities who live in proximity to natural ecosystems, is not easy to get them to understand the value of these ecosystems and the role they play in their destruction. It is even difficult to get across the message of their importance in restoring and conserving these ecosystems. This is something that came out very clearly in the Camp as the need for human cooperation in the restoration of the Muni Pomadzi landscape came out very clearly. The selection of the Case Study for the camp was great as it embodied all the different facets of landscape restoration work. It illustrated the place of stakeholders, the government, the local authorities, like-minded environmental groups, local conservation enthusiasts and resource users of the mangrove ecosystem. It was a good case study to learn from, and the process participants went through in dissecting the project also helped in learning new ways such a project can be made more impactful and sustainable.
Avu Lagoon
Interestingly, the bus ride was fun with people having a discussion around their cultures, people were welcoming, it was as though the youths have been together for years. They were motivated to do more, engaging one another to build better and sustainable landscapes, to network with like minds and forge ways to improve African landscapes. The team was particularly encouraged with the diversity of culture to effect change. Giving back to the community was the most important aspect of the boot camp to show the world that youths need to be included in policy making for a sustainable management of the environment. The fun part of the bus ride included having an adjective added to your name as a prefix and it turned out to be what each person was remembered as. The session started with introduction of participants and Community Resource Management Committees (CREMA). The Deputy Chairman gave a welcome speech on behalf of the Chairman who was unavoidably absent. Emphasis was laid on the reasons why participants signed up for the camp to guide the process of learning, stating knowledge sharing, hands – on – field experience, learning about the project, connection with nature and landscape and understand the various structures that have been built and see if it could be reproduced in other communities. Mrs. Rita of the Development Institute took participants through the whole CREMA process explaining relating to the project (including its history from when NCRC started the initiative with 14 communities which stopped in 2014) while effectively managing the communities and their own input vis-a-vis what they do and how they have been able to work together for sustainable protection of the Sitatunga. The project in 2018 started with 17 communities which have been narrowed down to 3 clusters constituting 7 CRMCs (Community Resource Management Committees) based on their socio-economic attributes, Social boundaries and population density of each community. They select representatives who represent them on the board. This has made the project easier and the participation of the women of the communities is also worth commending, the youth are also not left out in the management of the resources. Each community is unique in its way as they form part of the process and they work hard together to sustain the resources and main economic activity is farming and fishing. The field experience included visiting the distillery where sugar cane is brewed into alcohol sold to hospitals and gin for human consumption. Participants also went on a canoe safari to the lagoon and met fishermen on the way and also got to where fishing activities take place on the lagoon, however farmlands were also found at the inter-lands which could in another way affect lives in water if fertilizers or chemicals are used in such farms. Bludo, one of the communities visited lack accessible road network and it is surrounded by water which has significant effect on their daily activity, as teachers find it difficult to come to the community. There was also a tree planting session in the community primary school. The camp meeting came to an end with hands-on training on hat weaving with palm fronds. The vocational training (Soap making, Bead making, Hat weaving) has really been beneficial to the women of these communities and has taken them towards sustainable management of their resources for the greater good of the Avu Lagoon. The experience and knowledge gained about the CREMA is not one to forget easily, the community representatives were by far welcoming and they showed a seasoned organization and technical know-how of the whole project.
hAccrathon
On the third day the Youth In Landscape participants were immersed in a ten hour creative design sprint during the hACCRAthon where they engage in creative thinking to solve the next ten years problems by providing solutions to some of Africa’s most pressing restoration problems.
Global Landscape Forum (GLF)
The Global Landscapes Forum, which, just like any other international conference brought together people from different backgrounds in a shared space for Landscape Restoration. It was a great learning experience. BUT, two people truly made a mark for me, and who made the conference a worthwhile experience. The staunch advocate for tree planting; to me, this man was the perfect embodiment of what we need to do to restore our landscapes and achieve AFR100. His campaigns and advocacy work are followed by a great and thriving implementation which has seen him plant hundreds of thousands of trees. Landscape restoration is not just about talk and planning and more talk, but about real action on the ground. The next person was the youth who was making houses from plastic bottles. It wasn’t really about the work for me, but the fact that I could see myself represented on the stage. This was so for different other youths who were up on stage for this year’s GLF Accra. It was an inspirational sight to the youth that their work could be recognized and appreciated at such a global scale. All they or we need to do is come out, work, share, learn and Repeat. I truly commend the Global Landscapes Forum for their awesome work in ensuring youth representation.
This year on March 19th, The United Nations declared that 2021-2030 will be the decade on ecosystem restoration. Borrowing from the enriching activities that the Youth in Landscapes team had, the following stood out as key factors that landscape leaders should not forget during the decade on ecosystem restoration.
- People: Restoration should start with ensuring that people’s needs and rights are met. With an empty stomach, or without safe shelters, people won’t be planting trees, cleaning the oceans, or change their safe agricultural practices. We should start from communities, from women, from youth.
- Nature: We cannot forget where we come from, and we cannot destroy what made us who we are. We need to conserve biodiversity. We should acknowledge that we do not have any right over nature and therefore should commit to restoring what we have destroyed.
- Young people: We need to leverage African young people’s capabilities to restore their landscape. The average age of the African population is 19 years old. At the same time, the continent has also been blessed with some of the most dynamic and beautiful landscapes in the world.
Special thanks to Olaoluwa Adetula, Hyginus Laari, Olupot Joseph, Adetomi Adekoya, Roniance Adhiambo, Rael Adhiambo and Chris Dankwah(A Rocha Ghana) for their wonderful contributions.
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