The policy impacts of the ten country projects of The Restoration Initiative (TRI) are the theme of the new PANORAMA Solutions In Focus publication:
This publication highlights the diverse strategies adopted by country teams to overcome the challenges they faced and to build an enabling policy environment for forest and landscape restoration (FLR). The publication covers the common challenges encountered by TRI countries, the policy-influencing strategies they employed to tackle these hurdles, the success factors, and the long-term impact achieved. The policy-influencing strategies include assisting in formulating and negotiating policy, conducting policy reviews, creating knowledge, and establishing stakeholder platforms to facilitate inclusive engagement in these strategies.
Common challenges at the outset of TRI
TRI is implemented in countries with diverse ecosystems – from arid lands, tropical forests to mangroves – and with particular realities regarding restoration policy, legal and governance structures, information availability, financial and technical resources, and restoration knowledge or awareness. However, there were some notable similarities in the challenges TRI countries experienced at the outset.
The first of these challenges was the need for more political will among government officials to prioritise FLR initiatives. Another common issue was the need for more public awareness about the severity of forest degradation and deforestation and the principles that guide high-quality ecosystem restoration. In Cameroon, for instance, some officials viewed restoration as a measurement of forest surface area, while others viewed it as an ecosystem function.
Lastly, insufficient technical, financial, and administrative resources posed a significant barrier to policy development. In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), local coordinators and provincial bodies initially lacked the financial, political, and administrative capacity to push policies through the approval process.
Common policy influencing strategies
TRI country teams employed diverse policy-influencing strategies to overcome the above-mentioned barriers and achieve their policy objectives, contributing to a policy environment conducive to FLR.
TRI in Pakistan © FAO/Christophe Besacier
The most common strategy was facilitating policy formulation and negotiation. TRI country teams in Kenya ASAL, Pakistan, DRC, CAR, Cameroon, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya Tana Delta and São Tomé and Príncipe brought in experts to draft policy, assisted the drafting processes, provided technical input, and hosted stakeholder dialogues as well as consultations. These interventions successfully integrated FLR policies into national and local regulatory, legal and policy frameworks. For example, TRI in Pakistan provided technical input and hosted stakeholder consultations to facilitate the development of forest management and landscape restoration frameworks for 4 districts.
Another shared policy influencing strategy was the review of relevant existing policies. This allowed TRI teams in Cameroon, China, Pakistan, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Tanzania to analyse existing policies’ effectiveness in promoting FLR implementation, create a series of recommendations, and advocate for their implementation to improve countries’ policy environments. In Tanzania, for example, TRI collected baseline data on relevant policies, development plans and legal frameworks to identify gaps and issue recommendations for enhancing the regulatory environment for sustainable landscape restoration (SLR).
Knowledge creation was a key policy-influencing strategy. It was used in the early stages of the policy cycle as a milestone for developing a successful policy. Across Guinea Bissau, Cameroon, and Pakistan, knowledge creation frequently took the form of participatory Restoration Opportunities Assessment Methodology (ROAM) assessments. Furthermore, TRI in China generated new learnings by successfully implementing pilot interventions focused on ensuring that State Forest Farms’ management plans captured and applied the FLR principles.
A final policy influencing strategy commonly employed was stakeholder engagement by establishing stakeholder platforms. TRI in São Tomé and Príncipe established a National Platform for FLR, bringing together the private sector, civil society groups, local communities, relevant institutions, and partner projects to discuss FLR and negotiate FLR policies, including a new National FLR Plan.
The TRI-STP team visiting a new restored site on the island of Principe. © FAO/Marco Pagliani
Common success factors
The policy influencing strategies outlined above and their successful outcomes were only possible with the presence of numerous enabling factors. An analysis of the 10 country projects revealed three key success factors: (1) effective stakeholder engagement and successful utilisation of participatory processes, (2) the interest and willingness of target stakeholders, and (3) technical input by experts and partners as well as trainings on various research methods needed to collect new data.
TRI, a Global Environment Facility (GEF)-supported programme, was created to respond to the alarming state of forest degradation and deforestation. TRI brings together the collective strengths and resources of 9 countries, 3 GEF agencies, 10 project teams, and numerous support staff and external partners to turn restoration ambition into results, in support of the Bonn Challenge. To overcome existing barriers to reaching this goal, TRI country teams have worked to create positive in-country enabling environments for implementing and scaling up FLR.
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