The forest is clothing for the ancestors: A rapid cultural assessment tool for forest landscape restoration policy processes

Abstract

Restoration of degraded lands and ecosystems is one of the largest challenges of our times. Many countries are making pledges to restore their lands and use the Restoration Opportunities and Assessment Methodology (ROAM) to prioritise restoration as part of their work on Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR). In FLR, the integration of cultural knowledge is acknowledged. However, despite some excellent examples, and calls for more integration, practical guidance on how to achieve this has been lacking. In order to address this gap in the context of ROAM, a rapid cultural assessment tool of 10 questions was developed for ROAM practitioners to bring cultural perspectives into participatory restoration planning and policy processes. In this paper, we (1) provide the 10 questions tool that was developed and tested during ROAM assessments in Malawi and Mozambique, and (2) discuss the impact of the tool in ROAM processes in each country and regionally, including through interviews with practitioners and with an expansion to coastal and marine ecosystems. The questions have since become part of ROAM training modules and been taken up in other ROAM processes. The application of the 10 questions highlighted different ways in which the questions could bring culture into FLR practice: sensitizing participants in policy processes to the cultural dimension of land and ecosystem restoration, opening space for cultural inputs and raising cultural voices seldom heard in technical policy dialogues, providing specific information on culture and cultural institutions to enhance the policy processes, and generating information of relevance to landscape level ‘on the ground’ restoration actions. The article ends with suggestions for improving the method and for conceiving of new cultures of restoration, bringing experiences from the past and present together.