The Global Landscape Forum (GLF) will be held in Nairobi, Kenya from the 29th to 30th of August 2018 on the theme “Landscape Restoration in Africa: Perspectives and Opportunities”. This forum is organised by the United Nations Office in Nairobi, the World Bank and the German Ministries of Environment, Cooperation and Development. For two days, participants will take part in a series of practical workshops. It is a real platform where young Africans can share their experiences and win a prize as a competition will be organised for the occasion. Five themes will also underpin the exchanges at this forum. These include implementation of landscape restoration, food security and livelihoods, rights, financing sustainable landscapes, and measuring progress towards development and climate goals.
The forum will also give the opportunity to African and international experts to evaluate the landscape approach in Africa with the objective to facilitate public and private sector interventions, so that “promises turn into action’’. The GLF will enable partners to develop strategies to ensure the implementation of African forest restoration. The overall goal of the conference is to emerge with a set of public policies that will reduce deforestation in Africa.
Every year, Africa loses about 2.8 million hectares of forest and nearly 50 million hectares of land are affected by degradation. The figures are those of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations Environment Programme. These losses are mainly due to climate change including rising temperatures, rising sea levels, and irregular precipitation. To succeed in such a complex context, it is urgent for Africans to adapt to new realities. For example, farmers will be able to take into account parameters related to water pressure and reduced agricultural productivity in the management of their crops and livestock.
Conference organisers hope to find a solution to this myriad of irregularities. More specifically, they want to find and launch new responsible and inclusive financial mechanisms in 2019 that will enable them to attract private capital to revitalise the sector. They also want to work to ensure better regional coordination of actors in the sector.
Luchelle Feukeng