The Siting Tool is used to develop pathways to Green Growth by balancing needs for (agricultural) development within conservation objectives. For the target agricultural crop, the area that is bio-physically suitable for production is plotted and overlaid with a map to demonstrate distribution of important conservation values. These maps combined are used to create a zoning of the landscape and visualize risk zones.
SNV's Siting Tool has been applied and tested on landscapes in Democratic Republic of Congo, North Sumatra, West and Central Kalimantan Indonesia and Vietnam for commodities such as palm oil, rubber, coffee and cocoa.
With this tool, areas suitable for sustainable agricultural expansion can be identified. The Siting Tool is used to guide planning processes in forest-agriculture landscapes and informs stakeholders across the landscape on options for sustainable agricultural expansion. By zoning the landscape for the suitability of a target crop as well as conservation values, strategies for sustainable development as well as target areas for interventions and (government) support can be designed.
Anna-Selina Kager, Communications Officer for REAP - SNV Netherlands Development Organisation
Development Practitioners, Landscape Leader, Local Authority, Subnational / National Government
