Integrated Landscape Approaches Research Articles

ReCab: Most Sustainable Post-Rehabilitation Development for the Former Cabanatuan City Dumpsite through Integrated Landscape Approach

Abstract The utilization of open dumpsites poses significant risks not only to human health but also to the biodiversity of an area. The presence of external factors like changes in land cover and harmful human activities further compounds these threats. To address these issues, the rehabilitation of dumpsites and the implementation of sustainable landscape development are imperative. Hence, this study was conducted to select the most sustainable development option. The study adopts an Integrated Landscape Approach as its foundation, three scenarios, namely biodiversity park, ecological park, and agricultural technology park, were considered based on rankings obtained from expert consultations. Through a series of assessments considering sustainability pillars, sustainable development goals, and stakeholder preferences, the ecological park emerged as the most favorable option. This research underlines the critical importance of adopting sustainable landscape development measures, especially in areas affected by open dumpsites. The study’s findings serve as a vital reference for policymakers, environmentalists, and community leaders in their efforts to foster sustainable development and safeguard natural ecosystems. In conclusion, the implementation of sustainable design principles in the closure and post-rehabilitation of former dumpsites holds promise for benefiting the environment, society, and economy alike.

The Urgency of Forest Governance: Learning from Brazil's Sustainable Tourism Development

This study aims to describe the development of sustainable tourism as a method for the enduring management of forests, ensuring the effectiveness of applicable laws, the direction of forest governance policies, and their impact on the environment. Furthermore, it compares these aspects with the conditions in another country, Brazil. This research is a legal study that employs legislative, conceptual, and comparative approaches. The findings indicate that despite relevant regulations, their effectiveness remains low, necessitating focused and directed forest governance guidelines. An integrated landscape approach based on ecotourism development is considered an appropriate solution. However, tourism development also poses risks to forest sustainability, with the potential for significant forest area loss. The study also discovers that the direction of Indonesian government forest governance policies tends to have a negative impact on the environment. Therefore, Indonesia requires an integrated landscape approach as a solution to the failures of sectoral approaches, aiming to prevent damage caused by development. Furthermore, Brazil offers legal comparisons as solutions for the Indonesian government in creating regulations and policies related to forests for tourism.

Tree Roots and Plant Nutrition in Simultaneous Agroforestry Practices in the Humid Tropics: Implications for Guyana’s Agricultural Expansion

The unavoidable conclusion is to place agroforestry at the centre of an integrated landscape approach.

Feasibility and effectiveness of global intact forest landscape protection through forest certification: the conservation burden of intact forest landscapes

Intact Forest Landscapes (IFLs) are defined as forested areas of at least 500 km2 that show no signs of remotely sensed human activity. They are considered to be of high conservation value due to their role in maintaining biodiversity and mitigating climate change. In 2014, the members of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), one of the major global certification schemes for responsible forest management, took a conservation stand by restricting logging in FSC-certified IFLs. However, this move raised concerns about the economic viability of FSC-certified logging in these areas. To address these challenges, in 2022, FSC proposed an integrated landscape approach, considering local conditions and stakeholders’ needs to balance IFL protection, economic sustainability, and community interests. Here, we leverage publicly available management unit (MU) data, to provide a global quantitative overview of IFLs designated for timber production. We use the concept of ‘conservation burden’ for the extent that MUs overlap with IFLs, representing the impact that IFL protection has on forest management operations if logging is disallowed. Our data indicates that currently FSC-certified MUs affect 0.6% of global IFLs. Too restrictive policies for logging in IFLs may discourage FSC-certification in global IFLs. Considering the environmental and social benefits of FSC certification, it warrants careful examination whether the benefits of protecting a limited subset of FSC-certified IFLs outweighs the cost of potentially reduced growth of the total FSC-certified area. Our data can provide a basis to facilitate stakeholder engagement for landscape-level IFL management.

Making Landscapes Negotiable: Q-methodology as a Boundary-Spanning and Empowering Diagnostic

Landscapes are conceptually fuzzy and rich, and subject to plural framings. They are places of inquiry and intervention for scientists and practitioners, but also concepts bound to peoples’ dynamic identities, knowledge systems, inspiration, and well-being. These varying interpretations change the way landscapes function and evolve. Developed in the 1930s, Q-methodology is increasingly recognized for being useful in documenting and interrogating environmental discourses. Yet its application in the context of how integrated landscape approaches better navigate land-use dilemmas is still in its infancy. Based on our experience and emerging literature, such as the papers in this special collection, this article discusses the value of Q-methodology in addressing landscape sustainability issues. Q-methodology helps unravel and communicate common and contradicting landscape imaginaries and narratives in translational and boundary-spanning ways, thus bridging actors’ different understandings of problems and solutions and revealing common or differentiated entry points for negotiating trade-offs between competing land uses. The methodology can be empowering for marginalized people by uncovering their views and aspirational values to decision-makers and policymakers. We argue that this potential can be further strengthened by using Q to identify counter-hegemonic discourses and alliances that combat injustices regarding whose knowledge and visions count. In this way, applying Q-methodology in integrated landscape approaches can become a key tool for transitioning toward just, inclusive, and sustainable landscapes.

The Effects of Implementing Three Climate-Smart Practices with an Integrated Landscape Approach on Functional Connectivity and Carbon Storage

Climate-smart practices are actions that can be implemented without affecting agricultural activities and that can promote these activities, generating direct and indirect benefits in ecosystem services provision and increasing agricultural productivity and private income. The present study evaluated the effect of three climate-smart actions (establishment of isolated trees, recovery of riparian vegetation, and implementation of live fences) on increased functional landscape connectivity and carbon storage. Three scenarios with rates of participation ranging from 5 to 100% were tested in two watersheds with different degrees of conservation and a high priority for national food production in Mexico. The main results suggest climate-smart practices positively impact landscape connectivity and carbon sequestration. However, the improvement in landscape connectivity mainly benefits species of short displacement (50–100 m), and the increase in carbon storage is directly linear to the area implemented in these practices. Also, the effectiveness of the modeled actions depends on the landscape structure, which was implemented with the highest benefits in watersheds with intense agricultural activity. The findings can support decision-makers in selecting the best strategies to increase landscape connectivity and carbon sequestration in productive landscapes.

Participatory and Spatially Explicit Assessment to Envision the Future of Land-Use/Land-Cover Change Scenarios on Selected Ecosystem Services in Southwestern Ghana

Settlement expansion and commercial agriculture affect landscape sustainability and ecosystem service provision. Integrated landscape approaches are promoted to negotiate trade-offs between competing land uses and their reconciliation. Incorporating local perceptions of landscape dynamics as basis for such negotiations is particularly relevant for sub-Saharan Africa, where most people depend on natural ecosystems for livelihoods and well-being. This study applied participatory scenario building and spatially explicit simulation to unravel perceptions of the potential impact of rubber and settlement expansion on the provision of selected ecosystem services in southwestern Ghana under a business-as-usual scenario. We collected data in workshops and expert surveys on locally relevant ecosystem services, their indicator values, and the probable land-use transitions. The data was translated into an assessment matrix and integrated into a spatially explicit modeling platform, allowing visualization and comparison of the impact on ecosystem service provision of land-use scenarios under rubber plantation and settlement expansion. The results show the capacity of current (2020) and future land-use patterns to provide locally relevant ecosystem services, indicating a decline in capacity of ecosystem service provisioning in the future compared to the 2020 land-use patterns, a threat to the benefits humans derive from ecosystems. This highlights urgent need for policies and measures to control the drivers of land-use/land-cover change. Furthermore, the results emphasize the importance of diversifying land-use/land-cover types for sustainable landscape development. The paper contributes new insights into how spatially explicit and semi-quantitative methods can make stakeholder perceptions of landscape dynamics explicit as a basis for implementing integrated landscape approaches.

Archetypes of social-ecological-technological systems for managing ecological infrastructure

The concept of ecological infrastructure (EI) as a lens for landscape management has the potential to address environmental challenges, such as biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation, by instrumentalizing Nature’s Contributions to People (NCP). NCPs stems from the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) and refers to the various ways in which the natural world provides benefits, values, and services that directly and indirectly contribute to the well-being, livelihoods, and cultural aspects of human societies. This research explores this potential by proposing an archetype analysis of social-ecological-technological systems (SETS) to manage EI. We derived archetypes using machine learning and clustering on a data-driven SETS framework co-produced with experts in EI management. The archetype analysis was conducted by combining K-means with hierarchical clustering on spatial patterns to generate clusters with similar configurations of social, ecological, and technological subsystems. The approach is illustrated for the canton of Geneva, Switzerland, which experiences high urbanization and ecological pressures. The resulting spatially explicit archetypes of SETS facilitate policy recommendations tailored to multifunctional landscapes, which can be used to derive coherent management strategies for EI. In addition, the approach demonstrates that by taking an integrated landscape approach and engaging with diverse stakeholders, it is possible to develop effective landscape-based management recommendations for promoting the sustainable provision of NCPs and biodiversity within the concept of EI.

Stakeholder Perceptions on Landscape Governance in Northern Ghana: A Q-Study to Identify Common Concern Entry Points for Integrated Landscape Approaches

In a landscape, perceptions can influence people’s actions and behavior toward natural resource use. Improving landscape governance, therefore, requires understanding the different concerns of stakeholders operating within the landscape. This paper analyzes the perceptions of local stakeholders—local landscape users, practitioners engaged in conservation and sustainable resource use, and private actors—regarding the landscape governance system, using the Q-methodology to identify common concern entry points for the implementation of a landscape approach in the Western Wildlife Corridor (WWC) in northern Ghana. To this end, individual interviews and focus groups were conducted with local communities and organizations operating in three Community Resource Management Areas (CREMAs). They identified destructive livelihood activities, constrained livelihoods, and a weak governance system as the main challenges, and the need to balance livelihoods with conservation, strengthening landscape governance through the CREMA initiative, and awareness raising as the main solutions. Thus, the Q-method allowed identifying common concern entry points regarding landscape challenges, governance issues, and potential solutions. I argue that consensus among stakeholders regarding these challenges and solutions could lay the groundwork for a multi-stakeholder process in the area, which could help foster the implementation of an integrated landscape approach in the WWC landscape. It is crucial to support the livelihoods of local people to reduce pressures on natural resources. It is also important to strengthen the functioning of local CREMA management bodies with technical, logistical, and financial support. Implementing a participatory monitoring and evaluation mechanism is critical in this regard.

Climate-smart cocoa in forest landscapes: Lessons from institutional innovations in Ghana

Integrated landscape approaches have been welcomed by scientists and development practitioners as a promising way to address commodity-driven deforestation and associated land degradation and greenhouse gas emissions. They present cross-sectoral approaches to manage trade-offs between multiple land uses and environmental and socio-economic objectives through participatory multi-stakeholder planning and negotiation processes. The success of landscape approaches depends on the larger institutional systems of rules, regulations, and actor networks in which they are embedded. Yet, there remains a critical gap in our understanding of how such enabling conditions can be established. Taking the case of Ghana, this research analyses cross-sectoral institutional innovation in commodity and forestry regimes promoting the enabling conditions to move integrated landscape approaches from theory to practice. As part of its National REDD+ Strategy, Ghana has led the way for jurisdictional REDD+ and has successfully mobilized broad-based stakeholder engagement and funding around a shared purpose: climate-smart cocoa in community co-managed forest landscapes. In this article, we apply a Multi-Level Perspective (Geels, 2002) to analyse the process of institutional innovation under the Ghana Cocoa Forest REDD+ Programme (GCFRP). Despite early signs of regime change and alignment in Ghana’s cocoa and forestry sectors, GCFRP’s success is threatened by, amongst others, frustrated reforms to tree tenure and timber benefit-sharing rights. Our research demonstrates that political commitment for institutional change beyond landscape and jurisdictional scales is essential to enable climate-smart landscape transitions.

A Comparative Study of Polarization Management Around Energy Transition-Related Land-Use Conflicts in The Netherlands

The Dutch national government has decided to push the implementation of the “energy transition” it aspires to by inviting clusters of municipalities (so-called RES regions) to develop a regional energy strategy (RES). However, since the new renewable energy land-use claims compete with a growing number of land-use demands, RES implementation confronts land-use conflicts, resulting in complex trade-offs for conflict resolution and planning around polarization. In the Dutch context of land scarcity and a rich planning tradition that arose specifically to deal with this and ensuing conflicts, the need for integrated landscape management seems obvious. This article offers a comparative case study of two RES-related land-use conflicts and their management in South Limburg, focusing on the question of how far these cases display elements of an integrated landscape approach (ILA). The ILA is applied as an analytical framework to evaluate the land-use conflict management processes of the case studies by assessing which elements of ILA are present and whether their relative presence and quality help to resolve the conflicts. Based on document and media content analysis and 15 interviews, this article analyzes the different land-use claims, objectives, and landscape values identified in two RES areas and how they overlap or compete, resulting in conflicts or synergies. Our findings show that the ILA provides useful guidelines for tackling RES-related land-use conflicts, but does not pay sufficient attention to the political dimension.

Structuring the complexity of integrated landscape approaches into selectable, scalable, and measurable attributes

Integrated landscape approaches (ILA) aim to reconcile multiple, often competing, interests across agriculture, nature conservation, and other land uses. Recognized ILA design principles provide guidance for implementation, yet application remains challenging, and a strong performance evidence-base is yet to be formed. Through a critical literature review and focus group discussions with practitioners, we identified considerable diversity of ILA in actors, temporal, and spatial scales, inter alia. This diversity hampers learning from and steering ILA because of the intractable nature of the concept. Therefore, we developed a tool—an ‘ILA mixing board’—to structure the complexity of ILA into selectable and scalable attributes in a replicable way to allow planning, diagnosing, and comparing ILA. The ILA mixing board tool presents seven qualifiers, each representing a key attribute of ILA design and performance (for example, project flexibility, inclusiveness of the dialogue, and the centrality of the power distribution). Each qualifier has five (non-normative) outcome indicators that can be registered as present or absent. This process in turn guides planners, evaluators and other participating stakeholders involved in landscape management to diagnose the ILA type, or its performance. We apply the ILA mixing board to three ILA cases in Nicaragua, Madagascar, and the Congo Basin to show some of the many possible configurations of qualifiers on the mixing board. Further application of the tool would allow comparative analysis of the complexity of ILA in a structured and manageable way thereby enhancing the understanding of ILA performance and informing the development of evidence-based land use policy.

The Role of Multistakeholder Platforms in Environmental Governance: Analyzing Stakeholder Perceptions in Kalomo District, Zambia, Using Q-Method

Multistakeholder platforms (MSPs) are increasingly applied in environmental governance as institutions to collectively negotiate challenges, opportunities, and policy options in contested landscapes. However, their contributions and effectiveness depend on how stakeholders perceive and frame the role of MSPs in addressing social and environmental challenges. Despite this dependence, stakeholder perceptions of MSPs are currently under-researched. Hence this empirical study carried out in Zambia’s Kalomo District asks: how do stakeholder groups perceive the role of MSPs in addressing landscape challenges, given the context of the dual land tenure system, and what does this imply for the implementation of integrated landscape approaches? This study uses Q-methodology to analyze the perceptions of purposefully selected stakeholders from state institutions, civil society organizations, land users, and others familiar with existing MSPs at the district and village levels. The findings reveal three narratives. The first one presents MSPs as institutions that foster dialogue. The second narrative foregrounds the role of the government and private sector, despite acknowledging the diversity of stakeholders in MSPs. In this narrative, MSPs should focus on supporting market-driven solutions to resolve landscape challenges. The third narrative recognizes power imbalances and considers MSPs as institutions to identify policy gaps and needs. The first two narratives are positioned in Dryzek’s discourse classification as environmental problem-solving, while the third inclines toward green radicalism. Despite this divergence, there was consensus that MSPs have the potential to harmonize policies in a dual governance system and encourage dialogue between stakeholders to reconcile landscape challenges.

Navigating power imbalances in landscape governance: a network and influence analysis in southern Zambia

Actors engaging in integrated landscape approaches to reconciling conservation and development represent multiple sectors and scales and actors with different powers, resource access, and influence on decision-making. Despite growing acknowledgement, limited evidence exists on the implications of power relations for landscape governance. Therefore, this paper asks why and how different forms of power unfold and affect the functioning of multi-stakeholder platforms in southern Zambia. Social network analysis and a power influence assessment reveal that all actors exercise some form of visible, hidden, or invisible power in different social spaces to influence decision-making or negotiate a new social order. The intersection of customary and state governance reveals that power imbalances are the product of actors’ social belongingness, situatedness, and settlement histories. We conclude that integrated landscape approaches are potentially suited to balance power by triggering new dynamic social spaces for different power holders to engage in landscape decision-making. However, a power analysis before implementing a landscape approach helps better recognise power differentials and create a basis for marginalised actors to participate in decision-making equally. The paper bears relevance beyond the case, as the methods used to unravel power dynamics in contested landscapes are applicable across the tropics where mixed statutory and customary governance arrangements prevail.

Local perceptions of the socio-demographic changes triggered by large-scale plantation forests: Evidence from rural communities in Northern Province of Sierra Leone

Global concerns about forest sustainability have shifted the attention to plantation forests as a potential candidate to fill the wood and ecosystem service demand. In this regard, their contribution to lessening the pressure on natural forests has been recognized, and this is becoming increasingly important in the context of a changing climate. This study was designed to conceptualize the influence of large-scale plantation forests on changes in the socio-demographic characteristics in local communities. A mixed-method approach combining qualitative data from two key informant interviews with a household survey of 125 respondents was deployed to explore the local perceptions of the influence of plantation forestry on socio-demographic changes. Our results revealed mixed perceptions of the socio-demographic changes, reflecting both increasing and decreasing trends. All of the socio-demographic factors were positively influenced in a societal desired manner by plantation forestry, except household income and construction materials. The socio-demographic factors were identified as the principal determinants shaping the plantation forestry's contribution to the socio-economic development of respondents’ households. The direction of socio-demographic changes was reported to be positive across all the communities, with the magnitude of influence on the respondent's households varying between low and high. Our results suggest the need for understanding the dynamics associated with land use conversion to forest plantations in rural areas to inspire the search for options to implement an integrated landscape approach for tree plantation development with minimal social impacts on local populations.

Improving Governance of Tenure in Policy and Practice: Agrarian and Environmental Transition in the Mekong Region and Its Impacts on Sustainability Analyzed through the ‘Tenure-Scape’ Approach

Land relations in the Mekong Region are marked by the densely populated and intensively cultivated lowlands and the more extensive settlement and cultivation areas in the uplands. Land-use changes in the lowlands and uplands are interlinked and are a key process of agrarian and environmental transition. The ‘tenure-scape’ approach is introduced as a qualitative analysis combining integrated landscape approaches, governance and rights-based approaches, while underlining the centrality of legitimate tenure rights, limitations and obligations. This approach is used to analyze the impact of the Green Revolution and the global commodity boom, in particular the growth of rubber and coffee, on sustainability in the Mekong countries, i.e., Cambodia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar and Viet Nam. The way forward points to the use of the elements of the ‘tenure-scape’ approach to re-valuate the potential contribution of smallholder farmers to the wider physical and societal landscape. The ultimate goal is to go from transition to transformation toward a more secure, equitable future for those at risk of being excluded from effective access to, use of, and control over land, fisheries, forests and water resources, which are providing the basis for their livelihoods if the concession model of land-based investments were to be continued.

Integrated landscape approaches for reducing peatland fires in Ketapang District, Indonesia

During years with frequent fires in Indonesia, such as 2015 and 2019, Ketapang District in southwestern West Kalimantan Province received national and international attention. This article presents initial findings and lessons learned from Tropenbos Indonesia’s implementation of the Fire-smart landscape governance programme of the Working Landscapes Programme. The project area is Pawan-Kepulu-Pesaguan landscape in Matan Hilir Selatan sub-district of Ketapang, which covers almost 80,000 ha. The landscape consists of two peatland hydrological units with approximately 50,000 ha of peatlands in their core areas. The area has 20 villages, of which five to six are in peatlands affected by fires.

Assessing the Potential for Private Sector Engagement in Integrated Landscape Approaches: Insights from Value-Chain Analyses in Southern Zambia

Agricultural and forested landscapes in Africa are changing rapidly in response to socio-economic and environmental pressures. Integrated landscape approaches provide an opportunity for a more holistic and coordinated resource management strategy through the engagement of multiple stakeholders. Despite their influence as landscape actors, participation of private businesses in such initiatives has thus far been limited. This study focuses on the Kalomo District in southern Zambia, which provides an example of a rural landscape characterized by high levels of poverty, low agricultural productivity, and widespread deforestation and forest degradation. The study applied a value-chain analysis approach to better understand how the production of four locally important commodities (maize, tobacco, cattle, and charcoal) impacts land use, local livelihoods, and environmental objectives in this landscape, focusing on the role and influence of private sector actors. Data were collected through focus group discussions and key informant semi-structured interviews. Qualitative content analysis was employed to analyze the data and contextualize the findings. Results indicate three key potential entry points for increased private sector engagement: (1) improving water security for smallholders; (2) empowering small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as private sector actors; and (3) collective planning for sustainable landscape activities with deliberate measures to involve private sector actors. We discuss options for optimizing benefits from the identified entry points.

Co-producing theory of change to operationalize integrated landscape approaches

Integrated landscape approaches that engage diverse stakeholder groups in landscape governance are increasingly promoted to address linked social–ecological challenges in tropical landscapes. Recent research suggests that a transdisciplinary approach to landscape management can help identify common research needs, enhance knowledge co-production, guide evidence-based policy development, and harmonize cross-sectorial integration. Meanwhile, guiding principles for landscape approaches suggest that identifying common concerns and negotiating a process of change are fundamental to implementation and evaluation efforts. As such, the use of decision support tools such as theory of change models that build ordered sequences of actions towards a desired, and agreed, future state are increasingly advocated. However, the application of the theory of change concept to integrated landscape approaches is limited thus far, particularly within the scientific literature. Here, we address this gap by applying the principles of landscape approaches and knowledge co-production to co-produce a theory of change to address current unsustainable landscape management and associated conflicts in the Kalomo Hills Local Forest Reserve No. P.13 (KFR13) of Zambia. The participatory process engaged a diverse range of stakeholders including village head people, local and international researchers, district councillors, and civil society representatives amongst others. Several pathways, actions, and interventions were developed around the themes of deforestation, biodiversity and wildlife conservation, socio-economic development, access rights, and law enforcement. To make the theory of change actionable, participants identified a need for enhanced cross-sector and multi-level communication, capacity development, and improved governance, while a lack of commitment towards coordinated knowledge exchange and access to information along with poor policy formulation and weak enforcement of rules were among potential impediments to action. Use of theory of change can both inform evidence-based policy design (by revealing place-based challenges and proposing solutions) and support policy mechanisms that promote integration between state and non-state actors (by clarifying actor rights, roles and responsibilities). Co-developing a theory of change for integrated landscape management is inherently context specific, but the process and outcomes of this study should hold relevance across a range of contexts faced with sustainability challenges related to reconciling both conservation and development objectives.

Conserving agrobiodiversity for sustainable food systems in the Hindu Kush Himalaya

ABSTRACT The Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) is a rich region in agrobiodiversity. As elsewhere in the world, agrobiodiversity is declining in this region, and this is impacting the functioning of ecosystems and has profound implications for agricultural sustainability and food security. Today, the challenge faced by the global community is how to slow or reverse the present trend of loss of agrobiodiversity to safeguard future food supplies. Taking examples from the HKH, this paper explores the link between agrobiodiversity and food security, identifies the key issues and challenges to maintaining agrobiodiversity, and explores potentials and opportunities for improving agrobiodiversity that are conducive to maintaining and increasing food security, ecosystem services, and agricultural sustainability, and thus building resilience. The paper concludes that urgent action and an integrated landscape approach are required, bringing together multiple stakeholders, and integrates agrobiodiversity in national policies and programmes. Appropriate economic measures should be developed to encourage local people to use the Himalayan biodiversity sustainably as a basis to achieve food security and agricultural sustainability.