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Global Landscapes Forum, Lima, Peru 6-7 December 2014

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  • Published 3rd Nov 2014
  • Last updated 29th Aug 2023
Jujuy province, Argentina.

Jujuy province, Argentina. Photo credit: C.E. Manchego

Global Landscapes Forum

Multifunctional landscapes and land uses are at the heart of the intertwined challenges associated with climate and development. The Global Landscape Forum, which was held alongside the UN climate negotiations, created a platform for positioning landscapes in the new international agreements on climate and sustainable development.

The events brought thousands of negotiators, world leaders, researchers, civil society leaders, business leaders, practitioners and policymakers in agriculture, forestry and development, funding organizations, and media, making it the largest, most influential event outside the official UNFCCC COP. Forum participants benefitted from joining the interactive process of seeking combined solutions to the complex challenges common to everyone on the planet.

Landscapes Approaches

What is a landscapes approach?

Farms, forests, water bodies and settlements are not isolated elements but part of a wider landscape in which all land uses are integrated. A landscapes approach entails viewing and managing multiple land uses in an integrated manner, considering both the natural environment and the human systems that depend on it. The landscapes approach allows stakeholders to identify policy options, investment opportunities and research priorities by:

  • Integrating policies across sectors and understanding how land-use choices in one area affect other areas
  • Negotiating competing demands for land uses in a given landscape
  • Assessing all factors that affect land uses, whether at local, national, regional or global levels
  • Recognizing changes in landscapes as migration, urbanization, external shocks, and production and consumption patterns shape decisions on land use
  • Valuing the role of all the people in the landscape and studying how groups benefit differently from land uses.
  • Leveraging private and public capital for sustainable development in the landscape.

For information about the Global Landscapes Forum, please contact CIFOR Communications Officer Ann-Kathrin Neureuthera.neureuther@cgiar.org