To achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) additional investment in water and watershed management, soil health, sustainable sources of energy and ecosystem restoration will be required. New models of investment and finance are needed that not only incentivize the scaling up of investment in sustainable agriculture and land management, but do so in strategic ways that contribute to the inter-related SDGs and effectively manage the competition and interdependencies for natural resources and ecosystem services among the Goals and among land users. These resource management approaches are called integrated landscape management (ILM).
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Social and Financial Motivations for Integrated Investment
Climate change, drought, and increasing demand for food and natural resources are making access to energy and raw materials more costly for land-based enterprises, from small farmers to large agribusiness. At the same time, improved global transparency and hyperconnectivity are increasing the risks for investors who are perceived as ignoring environmental and social sustainability. In many cases, these risks cannot be mitigated solely through on-farm management or supply chain programs (the current focus of most efforts), and must be dealt with at the landscape scale. This
means that a single private sector investor cannot mitigate those risks alone.
Key challenges for financing integrated landscape investments
- Incorporating landscape criteria into investment decision-making.
- Investment risks that are unique to ILM compared to traditional land-based investments.
- Investors and financiers’ effective engagement with landscape partnerships.
- Strategically linking financial flows within landscapes.
- Monitoring multiple outcomes at a landscape scale.
Recommendations to advance investment and finance for ILM
- Design standards and monitoring systems for integrated landscape investments.
- Establish landscape investment incubators.
- Establish brokerage services for integrated landscape deals.
- Incorporate integrated landscape principles into public financing.
- Create frameworks for financing ILM within national SDG and green growth strategies.
Towards a Strategy for Financing Integrated Landscape Investment
This figure illustrates how a strategy for financing integrated landscape investment might look. It includes the roles of financiers, a landscape investment facilitator, a multistakeholder platform, a landscape investment fund as well as potential asset and enabling investments.
Related Links
Discussion Paper on ‘Sustainable financing for Forest and Landscape Restoration: opportunities, challenges, and the way forward’ | Global Mechanism
