Online only via Zoom (Registration link here)
Join us for the next Landscape Roundtable convened by FAO and EcoAgriculture Partners to reflect upon the achievements and lessons learned from the Landscapes for People, Food and Nature (LPFN) initiative, which began in 2011 and officially closes this year. The LPFN initiative has been an international collaboration of knowledge sharing, dialogue and action to support integrated landscape management in order to achieve three simultaneous goals: improved food production, ecosystem conservation and sustainable livelihoods. More than 70 partner organizations from North and South America, Europe, Africa, Latin America and Asia have contributed their resources and considerable expertise as part of LPFN to promote and strengthen landscape management around the world.
During the Roundtable, distinguished panelists representing the core partners of LPFN will reflect on the initiative and share their vision of where to go from here to further advance sustainable landscapes that fully meet the Global Goals.
We invite everyone working to advance integrated landscape management to join this Roundtable.
Register for the event here or follow the link above.
The Landscape Roundtable is part of an on-going series of discussions focusing on climate change, agriculture and landscapes. EcoAgriculture Partners and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Liaison Office for North America have jointly organized the series since 2009.
8:45 am: Zoom call opens
9:00 am: Gabriel Lazier, FAO-North America
9:05 am: Vimlendra Sharan, Director, FAO-North America
9:10 am: Sara Scherr, President and CEO, EcoAgriculture Partners
PANELS: CO-ORGANIZERS OF THE LPFN
9:20 am:
Panel 1 The Big Picture of Landscape Development
Tony Simons, Executive Director, CIFOR-ICRAF
Bernhard Worm, Senior Policy Advisor, Division Rural Development, Land Rights, Forests Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Paola Agostini, Global Lead for Landscapes, World Bank
Juan Lucas Restrepo, Director General, Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT)
9:40 am: Participant Comments (1)
9:50 am:
Panel 2: Insights on Landscape Development from the Field
Christophe Besacier, Forestry Officer, Forest and Landscape Restoration, FAO
John Buchanan, Vice President, Sustainable Production, Center for Environmental Leadership in Business, Conservation International
Katie Minderhoud, Knowledge Management and Learning Advisor, Solidaridad
Salima Mahamoudou, Research Associate, World Resources Institute
10:10 am: Participant Comments (2)
10:25 am: Wrap-up
10:30 am: CLOSE
Paola Agostini, Global Lead for Landscapes, World Bank
Dr. Paola Agostini is a Lead Natural Resources Specialist in the World Bank’s Environment and Natural Resources Global Practice, in the Europe Caucasus and Central Asia Region. Previously she was the World Bank Global Lead for Forests, Landscapes and Ecosystems, looking at projects and programs that try to improve connectivity of protected areas, forests, agroforestry, rangeland and agriculture land for the increase of productivity, communities resilience and production of ecosystem services. Her focus is on the interface between agriculture and natural resources management, and partnerships for Landscape Restoration. Paola also coordinated TerrAfrica, a regional partnership program in over 26 Sub-Saharan countries that promotes Sustainable Land and Water Management. Previously, Paola coordinated the GEF Program in Latin America and Africa, overseeing a portfolio of over 100 projects dealing with Climate Change, Biodiversity, Land Degradation, Chemicals and International Waters.
Christophe Besacier, Forestry Officer, Forest and Landscape Restoration, FAO
Christophe is currently Ingénieur en Chef des Ponts, des Eaux et des Forêts for the French Ministry of Agriculture, Agrifood and Forest. Regional advisor for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Sahel region from 2000 to 2004 and for the Congo Basin region from 2004 to 2009, he was in charge of the Secretariat of the Committee on Mediterranean Forestry Questions-Silva Mediterranea within the FAO Forestry Department from 2009 to 2015. Since January 2015, Christophe joined as Forestry Officer the Forest and Landscape Restoration Mechanism group in FAO.
John Buchanan Vice President, Sustainable Production, Center for Environmental Leadership in Business, Conservation International
John Buchanan leads the Sustainable Food and Agriculture Markets team within Conservation International’s Center for Environmental Leadership in Business (CELB). The Sustainable Food & Agriculture Markets team focuses on engaging leading companies in palm oil, soy and related agribusiness sectors to develop and implement sustainable agriculture strategies including agricultural landscape initiatives. John is also responsible for CI relationships with companies in the food and agriculture value chain such as Walmart, Mars, Mondelez, and Sime Darby, and plays a leadership role with the Verified Sourcing Areas initiative, the Good Growth Partnership to reduce deforestation in global commodity supply chains, and previously the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, Landscapes for People Food and Nature Initiative and the Keystone Field to Market Initiative.
Salima Mahamoudou, Research Associate, World Resources Institute
Salima is a Research Associate for Africa Forest team within the Food, Forest and Water program. She helps conduct research and assists the Central African Regional Offices in updating their Forest Atlases, as well as reformatting them to be published as a website. Prior to WRI, Salima interned with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Nature Conservancy where she assisted research projects on soil degradation in drylands and land restoration using remote sensing technologies. She also gained some environmental policy and advocacy experiences while working for Earth Day Network and the Vermont Natural Resources Council. Salima graduated from Green Mountain College, in Vermont, where she received a dual B.S degree in Natural Resources Management and Sustainable Business.
Katie Minderhoud, Knowledge Management and Learning Advisor, Solidaridad
Katie currently works as part of the knowledge management and learning team in the Solidaridad Europe office. Her particular expertise is on the landscape approach, with a thematic focus on land governance and food security. In this capacity she looks beyond the commodity supply chain to explore opportunities and design interventions at landscape level that optimize land and resource use in a sustainable way. Prior to working with Solidaridad, Katie carried out various research assignments for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, WWF and the Dutch Science Board (NWO) on the topic of land governance, agri-commodity expansion and global food systems.
Juan Lucas Restrepo, Director General of the Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT)
A Colombian and French national, Juan Lucas has worked in the agricultural domain, both in public and private sectors, for the past 25 years. He has significant experience in policy, value chains, markets and in leading agricultural research. He has supported the work of CGIAR through the various governance roles he held over the years in the Committee of Genetic Resources, Oversight and Executive Committees, and as the representative of the Colombian Government on the CIAT Board of Directors as an ex-officio member. Among other positions, Juan Lucas has served as the Vice Minister of the Colombian Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Chief Commercial Officer of the Colombian Federation of Coffee Growers, and for the last eight years as the Executive Director of AGROSAVIA, the largest agricultural research organization of the country. During his time in AGROSAVIA, he has helped strengthen its reputation, human resources, finance and infrastructure. Most importantly, he helped set up its novel collaborative schemes for research, knowledge management and innovation that have contributed to improvements in the quantity and quality of the organization’s outcomes and overall impact.
As its Chair, Juan Lucas also led the Global Forum for Agricultural Research (GFAR), hosted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), and its efforts to better integrate the agricultural research for development community, with change and innovation by farmers. He also participated in the negotiations on the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture where he served as head of the Colombian delegation. In 2017, Juan Lucas led a government effort in Colombia that resulted in a National Agricultural Innovation System, which will facilitate research, education and extension, and promote innovation by farmers, help improve their livelihoods and protect and recover natural capital. He holds a degree in civil engineering from Universidad de los Andes in Colombia, and a Master of Science in Agricultural Economics from Cornell University in the USA.
Sara Scherr, President and CEO, EcoAgriculture Partners
Dr. Sara J. Scherr’s work focuses on inclusive agricultural development and sustainable land policy. An economist, she has been a prominent voice globally in promoting the restoration of degraded lands for food security and rural livelihoods. She founded the non-profit EcoAgriculture Partners in 2002 to promote agricultural strategies that also secure and restore ecosystem services. In 2011 she co-founded the global network ‘Landscapes for People, Food and Nature’, and in 2019 began the ‘1000 Landscapes for 1 Billion People’ initiative to accelerate locally-led landscape regeneration around the world.
Vimlendra Sharan, Director, FAO North America
Vimlendra Sharan is the Director of the FAO Liaison Office for North America. Mr. Sharan brings with him more than two decades of national and international government leadership experience focusing on rural development, agriculture and food security issues. Mr Sharan has worked with the Indian Government extensively in rural and tribal areas of Maharashtra and has also been actively involved in agriculture and food policy formulation working with the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare in New Delhi.
Tony Simons, Executive Director, CIFOR-ICRAF
Tony Simons has worked for 27 years on issues at the tropical agriculture/forestry interface in more than 40 developing countries. His work has spanned the private sector (Shell Forestry), academia (University of Oxford), official development assistance (FCDO) and research (CGIAR). He holds a bachelor’s degree in agricultural science from Massey University, NZ, and master’s and doctoral degrees from Cambridge University, UK. In 2009, Tony was made an Honorary Professor in Tropical Forestry at the University of Copenhagen. He is a board member of the African Centre for Technology Studies, the Plant Resources of Tropical Africa program, the Danone Livelihood Fund and DCM International Imaging. He also leads the IUFRO Forest and Water Task Force. He has published over 100 research papers and has sat on several journal editorial boards.
Bernhard Worm, Senior Policy Advisor, Division Rural Development, Land Rights, Forests Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Bernhard Worm works as Senior Policy Advisor at the section of Rural Development, Land Rights, Forests within the Special Initiative ONEWORLD-No Hunger at the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). Prior to that, he served at the German Embassy in South Sudan as Head of Development Cooperation including Humanitarian Assistance. His professional experience includes an engagement with UNICEF working on Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation in New York Headquarters and in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. He also has work experience in the NGO-Sector having worked for Welthungerhilfe and Action contre la Faim in crisis and post crisis context such as Sudan and Angola. Bernhard Worm holds a Master Degree in Public Policy and Management with a focus on Monitoring and Evaluation in the development and humanitarian context.
