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 Welcome to another edition of the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Tees and Agroforestry (FTA) newsletter. FTA participated last month in the World Agroforestry Congress, where over 1,200 experts met to present their research results, and discuss the potential of agroforestry for sustainable development. In this edition of our newletter, our special news feature highlights some of the discussions held at the congress.
Our “Inclusive finance for sustainable landscapes” series led by Tropenbos International (TBI) and the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) continues, with three more interviews that discuss how financial products should be adjusted to better meet the needs of community forest enterprises, the importance of scaling up sustainable forestry projects to attract finance, and the benefits of forest-finance partnerships.
FTA has also started a new publication series, with the publication of two FTA briefs. The first brief discusses a monitoring and learning tool – the Gender Equality in Research Scale (GEIRS), which is designed to assess the level of gender integration across a CGIAR Research Program’s research portfolio and at different stages of the research and development cycle. The second brief presents the self-assessment questionnaire based on a set of minimum standards for gender integration used as part of the GEIRS tool.
You can also now access our new website, where all of our publications and resources are fully searchable. There is a dedicated section for datasets and maps – our new data portal – where you can find a wealth of data generated through FTA research collaboratively and by our partners.
This month we are participating in the Asia-Pacific Forestry Week in Songdo, Incheon, the Republic of Korea, and hosting a launch event, “Data and digital resources for decision-making on forests, tress and agroforestry”, for our new website at the Global Landscapes Forum in Bonn.
Read on for more about these stories and events, plus the latest FTA publications and resources.
Vincent Gitz
FTA Director
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Special feature
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 Last month, when more than 1,200 scientists and experts met at the World Agroforestry Congress in Montpellier, France, agroforestry was praised for its multitude of benefits. It was lauded as a solution to many of the world’s most pressing challenges, including poverty, malnutrition, climate change, biodiversity loss, migration and conflict.
When trees and crops are successfully farmed together, agroforestry does provide a wealth of environmental, social and economic benefits. This is the case in Bugesera district in Rwanda, where 2,000 farmers have started growing tree tomato, which is a result of a scaling-out initiative of the “Trees for food security” project funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) and led by World Agroforestry (ICRAF), a partner of FTA. These fast-growing, small, shrubby trees produce fruits (popularly known as “Tamarillo”) that fill an important gap in local diets and provide a source of income and livelihood to those who grow them.
As part of the World Agroforestry Congress, the participants agreed to a statement calling on world leaders to promote the benefits of agroforestry to land owners and managers across the globe. Only when farmers everywhere can enjoy benefits similar to those emerging in Bugesera district in Rwanda will agroforestry truly have become a model for sustainable development. Now is the time to turn from aspiration to action. |
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Announcement
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 FTA’s new website is now live! All of our resources, including news items, publications, videos and data are readily accessible and searchable. Our website holds more than 8000 publications, more than 200 datasets and 74 spatial data maps. Access to our research and data is part of FTA’s commitment to advancing knowledge on, and decision-making for, forests, trees and agroforestry, and our digital resources offer huge opportunities for greater knowledge dissemination and collaboration. This month, FTA will officially launch the website at an event titled, “Data and digital resources for decision-making on forests, tress and agroforestry” at the Global Landscapes Forum in Bonn. |
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News
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 Continuing a series of interviews on inclusive landscape finance, three members of the Association of Forest Communities of the Petén (ACOFOP) share their insights with Bas Louman of Tropenbos International. ACOFOP was founded in 1997 to strengthen the position and user rights of communities in the Petén Mayan Biosphere Reserve, Guatemala. The ACOFOP members discuss definitions for ‘inclusiveness’ and why it should be addressed by financial institutions, the structural barriers to financing smallholders and small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and examples of successful or promising financial innovations that promote environmentally sound and socially inclusive investments. |
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 Our planet is in the midst of an ecological emergency, states the global assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services presented by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). Deteriorating biodiversity is putting food security, economies as well as human health and well-being at risk. Reversing this ecological decline requires restoration initiatives to incorporate the needs, interests and knowledge of both men and women. FTA has long-standing experience with research on incorporating gender dimensions into forest landscape restoration. The program’s research has shown that reaching desired social and environmental outcomes from ecosystem restoration hinges on the contribution and cooperation of the women and men who depend on these ecosystems for their livelihoods. |
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 In this new interview on inclusive landscape finance, we hear from the corporate sector. Paul Hol, CEO of FORM International, shares his views with Tropenbos International’s Nick Pasiecznik on what is already being achieved and, more importantly, what still needs to be done to attract more investment for reforestation of degraded forest landscapes. “The main issues are the lack of projects and the problem of scale,” states Paul. “There is also a need for stakeholder involvement, but financial sustainability and a sound business case are paramount to success.” |
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Charles Karangwa of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in Rwanda speaks to FTA about restoration in Rwanda, the importance of knowledge and science and how we can move from restoration pledges to action. Karangwa explains that we need knowledge, and we need science to adapt to climate change. Even smallholder farmers need this knowledge. Science is crucial, and combined with local knowledge, it brings efficiency to restoration.
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 Benjamin Singer of the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF) Secretariat shares his views on inclusive landscape finance, continuing our interview series on innovative finance. He brings a decade of experience from his role in implementing the UNFF’s Global Forest Financing Facilitation Network to the discussion. Here he reflects on using public funds to assist developing countries in their efforts to mobilize finance for sustainable forest management. He presents the view that stakeholders need to acknowledge that forest financing is not business as usual, and that partnerships are much more productive than competition. |
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Banner photo by O. Girard/CIFOR. Special feature and news photos, from top, by: O. Girard/CIFOR; R. Martin/CIFOR; ACOFOP; M. Edliadi/CIFOR; D. Tiveau/CIFOR; O. Girard/CIFOR; O. Girard/CIFOR
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Restoration 
Plantations and tree crop commodities 
Enhanced nutrition and food security 
Biodiversity, safeguarding and conservation 
Nationally determined contributions 
Bioenergy and biomaterials 
Blue carbon and peatlands 
Climate change adaptation 
Landscape governance 
Gender 
Silvopastoral systems 
Market-based agroforestry-forestry 
Farm-forest policy interface 
Agroecology 
Livelihood trajectory modelling and assessment 
Inclusive finance and business models 
Innovating finance for sustainable landscapes 
Public and private commitments to zero deforestation 
Orphan tree crops 
Effectiveness of approaches to sustainable supply 
Quality of FTA research for development 
Sentinel landscapes 
Foresight 
Seeds and seedlings delivery systems 
Smallholder tree-crop commodities 
