Ferwerda, W. and S. Moolenaar. (2016). Four Returns: A Long-Term Holistic Framework for Integrated Landscape Management and Restoration Involving Business. Solutions 7(5): 36-41. https://thesolutionsjournal.com/article/four-returns-a-long-term-holistic-framework-for-integrated-landscape-management-and-restoration-involving-business/
Perspectives Four Returns: A Long-term Holistic Framework for Integrated Landscape Management and Restoration Involving Business by Willem H. Ferwerda and Simon W. Moolenaar
H
ealthy landscapes and water systems are essential if we are to secure the livelihoods and wellbeing of future generations and our environment. The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) ratified these points in 2015. In particular, the goal of a Land Degradation Neutral world is explicitly mentioned in SDG 15: “Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.” However, many other SDGs are related to landscape (or ecosystem) restoration, as a quarter of the world’s land is seriously degraded from centuries of unsustainable human activity, and this degradation is interlinked with other major global environmental themes like climate change, food and water security, and biodiversity decline. These larger biophysical themes then directly influence ongoing shifts in human well-being, security, poverty, and migration, and not always for the better. The United Nations Environmental Program, the UN Convention to Combat Desertification and the World Resources Institute estimate that there are two billion hectares (double the size of China) of severely degraded land suitable for rehabilitation through ecological restoration. Of that, 1.5 billion hectares are suited for mosaic landscape restoration, in which forests and trees are combined with other land uses, including regenerative forms of agroforestry and agriculture. The private sector has an undeniably large role in land management. However, business investments in
land rehabilitation and restoration are still new and relatively untested at large spatial and temporal scales. Their benefits are often still not obvious because of immediate costs. Further, the market does not factor in land degradation as a cost and healthy ecosystems as a value, so unsustainable practices are often still preferably profitable in the short term. For businesses to further engage in scaling up sustainable land practices, they need to explore and pilot smart, scalable models aiming for land degradation neutrality and restoration that also secure returns on investment.1 Further, a common language that business and local stakeholders understand is urgently needed. The Tragedy of the Commons must be changed into a Promise of the Commons by understanding all stakeholder’s needs and perspectives on land. To achieve this, three groups came together in 2013: a business school (Rotterdam School of Management of the Erasmus University), an international network of ecologists (the Commission on Ecosystem Management of IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature), and a private family office. Together, they formed the new organization Commonland. Commonland envisions largescale landscape restoration activities involving businesses by building transformative business cases with local farmers, land users, and experts.2 In this way, the urgent need for project pipelines towards (institutional) investors will be bridged. Commonland unites four roles: mobilization of stakeholders,
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development of business cases on the land, bringing in knowledge and expertise, and connecting it to finance and investments. It consists of a foundation and social impact companies and is currently setting up an investment fund.
A Holistic Approach and Speaking a Common Language in Partnerships Large-scale restoration projects are complex and require joint understanding and action from stakeholders. There needs to be a mutually agreed upon and clear vision of a sustainable future, where economic activity operates within the functional planetary boundaries and capabilities, based on a solid understanding of how natural systems work. Designing and implementing restoration projects and programs that are effective, efficient, and engaging will enable businesses and investors to reduce risks and cost-effectively scale-up restoration efforts. In the coming years, public and private sector collaboration will likely be a key component in furthering work on landscape restoration. Private sector decision-makers will need to understand ecosystem concepts. Public sector decision-makers will need to understand corporate processes.3 This type of joint effort was codified in SDG 17, which is about creating partnerships as a critical success factor to achieve any of the other goals, like that of SDG 15 on land. SDG 17.17 states: to “encourage and promote effective public, public-private and civil society partnerships, building on the experience and resourcing strategies of partnerships.” That is