November 2021
Dear Colleagues,
Welcome to the second edition of the PROGREEN newsletter—an update on new programs and initiatives to share knowledge and best practices through stakeholder engagement, outreach, and event participation.
Earlier this month, PROGREEN hosted the annual Partnership Council meeting. Sessions included presentations from PROGREEN’s team leaders on the ground in places such as Bolivia and Central Asia, and lively discussions on the impact of PROGREEN support, particularly as countries continue to face ongoing climate and COVID-19 related challenges. Our forthcoming Annual Report will highlight much of the content shared with the Partnership Council.
In this issue, be sure to read two interesting blogs on sharing global forest and landscape knowledge, and building resilience in Burundi’s landscapes, as well as further details on PROGREEN’s newly approved activities, and details on the upcoming Annual Report and soon-to-launch website.
And finally, don’t forget to follow us on twitter, where we share all PROGREEN news and interesting happenings from the global forest and landscape community.
Happy reading,
Garo Batmanian and the PROGREEN team
|
|
New Landscapes
Algeria
Honduras
Lebanon
Nigeria
Pacific Islands
Sri Lanka
Vietnam
Project Updates
Ghana
Recent Events
GLF Climate
FOLUR Launch
News & Stories
CWON 2021
Restoration Taskforce
Video from Chad
Blog from Algeria
Blog from Burundi
Blog on Natural Assets
On the Horizon
Website
Annual Report
Looking Back
Blog on Knowledge
|
|
NEW LANDSCAPES: SEVEN ACTIVITIES APPROVED
|
|
ALGERIA
Strengthening sustainable forest landscape planning and management to address forest fires
This activity will undertake an analytical review on current forest policy and management strategies and an institutional assessment to understand current policy provisions, practices, and capacities. Recommendations will reflect on technical and financial needs for forest fire management, as well as the development of a forest fire early warning system.
|
|
HONDURAS
Prioritizing forest and landscapes: Technical assistance to assess opportunities for growth, poverty alleviation and increased resilience
This analytical work will provide valuable information to inform policies that strengthen economic, social, and ecosystem resilience in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing land degradation and deforestation. New analysis will be conducted to map out a comprehensive approach to improve livelihoods of natural resource dependent communities, restore landscapes, and reduce forest deforestation and degradation.
|
|
LEBANON
Promoting sustainable forest management to address forest fires
This activity assesses forest strategy and planning framework to identify strengths and weaknesses in the national forest fire strategy, contributing towards a national framework for the long-term protection of forests and improving local management capacity.
|
|
NIGERIA
Adopting Multi-Sectoral Approaches Towards Climate-Resilient Landscapes as Part of Integrated Catchment Management in Northern Nigeria
This activity improves the knowledge base for adopting multi-sectoral approaches to climate-resilient landscape management practices. It is part of an integrated catchment management approach in Northern Nigeria.
|
|
PACIFIC ISLANDS
Inputs into the Regional Partnership Framework for nine
Pacific Countries (RPF9)
This activity improves sustainable forest management in terrestrial ecosystems and the management of land use changes in Vanuatu, Tonga, Tuvalu, Federated Staes of Micronesia, Republic of Marshall Islands, Samoa, Palau, Kiribati, and Nauru. The proposed activity will facilitate dialogue between government and stakeholders in the land management sectors, and deliver strategic recommendations to support agricultural, forestry and conservation reforms, including sustainable, nature–based economic development.
|
|
SRI LANKA
Promoting a forest landscape approach to transport infrastructure planning and implementation
This activity will inform the planning and green design of transport infrastructure, forest landscape strategies, and related investment plans to minimize and mitigate forest fragmentation and degradation. The activity will enhance collaborative relationships between transport and forest management agencies and generate ready for application models and prototypes to build forest-and wildlife-friendly transport infrastructure.
|
|
VIETNAM
Mapping and re-assessment of options for achieving zero net GHG emissions from rice production in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta
This activity supports the design of the Mekong Delta Green and Low carbon Agriculture Transformation Pathways. It is also expected that the knowledge generated will help the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development design investment projects which could be considered by the World Bank for IRBD financing.
|
|
GHANA
The World Bank board recently approved the Ghana Landscape Restoration and Small Scale Mining Project.
|
|
 |
Held on November 7, this session on how blending finance from different sources (results-based climate finance, grants, loans, public resources, and private investments) enables the integrated cross-sectoral approaches needed to deliver sustainable landscape management programs at scale as part of the solution to the climate crisis.
|
|
|
|
On November 6, PROGREEN joined FOLUR at the GLF Climate for a launch event in conjunction with COP-26.
|
|
|
|
The World Bank’s Changing Wealth of Nations 2021 report finds that the share of total global wealth in renewable natural capital is decreasing and threatened by climate change. The report tracks the wealth of 146 countries between 1995 and 2018 by measuring the economic value of renewable natural capital (such as forests, cropland, and ocean resources), nonrenewable natural capital (such as minerals and fossil fuels), human capital (earnings over a person’s lifetime), produced capital (such as buildings and infrastructure), and net foreign assets.
|
|
PROGREEN is part of a new World Bank–chaired Finance Task Force that will tackle key issues inhibiting successful landscape restoration. This includes guiding a reorientation of subsidies towards restoration, countering economic forces and vested interests in degradation, and incentivizing public and corporate investors to co-invest in ecosystem restoration. LEARN MORE
|
|
Immerse yourself in the environmental, economic, and social benefits of sustainable landscape management with a new 360-3D video that gives a realistic “before and after” view of the OROA Reserve in Chad. The video illustrates how sustainable landscape management activities will improve the use of land, fight climate change, and build resilience in the matters of water, land restoration and agriculture. It is hoped that being able to visualize the future will strengthen citizen engagement; traditional, local and central authorities’ ownership of the sustainable landscape activities; and help attract additional financing for the project. Thanks to PROGREEN's contribution, this video will be shared at local level to promote the vision of the project and engage with communities living near the reserve. WATCH HERE
|
|
Burundi’s collines are home to more than 90% of the country’s largely rural population, composed of mostly women and youth, who rely on agriculture and forestry for their livelihoods. They also are critical hubs of multi-risk vulnerability: 75% of court cases are linked to land disputes, and the recent massive return of refugees from neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Tanzania has been a source of increased conflict. READ MORE
|
|
Blog: Sustainable Forest Management will help Algeria Tackle the Risk of Wildfires
This past summer, we saw images of wildfires ravaging Algeria and other countries in the Mediterranean. New technology allows us to predict fires better than before, and to monitor them. READ MORE
|
|
Website
PROGREEN will soon be launching a new external website to host the programs knowledge and updates.
Annual Report
Coming soon, the annual report will provide a comprehensive overview of the Programs goals and accomplishments over the past year.
|
|
PROGREEN hosted an I4C workshop on May 26 entitled “Transformative Finance for Sustainable Landscape Management”. The session focused on how landscape programs can help provide jobs and improve livelihoods while delivering on carbon sequestration goals.
|
|
As part of the official launch of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, PROGREEN supported a a High-Level Session on Financing Restoration entitled “Financial Innovations for a Green Recovery and Restoration”.
|
|
PROGREEN convened a session June 3 on Satellite Monitoring for Forest Management. The event shared practical knowledge and tools for monitoring forest cover change due to forest loss or restoration and feature country experiences in applying such tools.
|
|
With support from PROGREEN, the World Bank is now piloting a “Climate Resilience” tool for tree planting projects—developed in cooperation with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and MIGA. The tool synthesizes most widely used climate projection models and uses site-specific data for threats triggered by climate change, including increased risk of fires and pests.
|
|
|
|
Photos
Header: Chatrawee Wiratgasem / Shutterstock
Honduras: Manuel Chinchilla / Shutterstock
Sri Lanka: Chaminda Silva / Shutterstock
Pacific Islands: Photobigrafie / Shutterstock
Vietnam: Sarah Nguyen / Shutterstock
Ghana: TG23 / Shutterstock
Algeria: CHETTOUH Nabil / Shutterstock
Lebanon: kameelRayes / Shutterstock
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
