UNU-IAS Signs Letter of Agreement with IPBES

The United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS), host of the IPSI Secretariat, recently signed a Letter of Agreement (LoA) for expanded cooperation with the Inter-governmental Science-policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) at a formal event at UNU headquarters in Tokyo, Japan.

According to the UNU-IAS website, with this agreement, "both partners expressed their intention to identify opportunities for additional cooperation in the areas of capacity building, indigenous and local knowledge systems, and knowledge and data. Their overlapping mandates offer the potential to expand their existing collaboration and develop more joint activities, and at the same time support internationally agreed environment objectives and the Sustainable Development Goals." The agreement mentions IPSI, along with other UNU-IAS projects, for our potential to "offer IPBES closer access to stakeholders at the sub-national and local levels, especially in areas such as biocultural diversity and sustainable development".

For more information, please see the event announcement on the UNU-IAS website here.

Videos on the Indicators of Resilience in SEPLS

IPSI member the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) recently produced a video series based on the application of the “Indicators of Resilience in Socio-ecological Production Landscapes and Seascapes (SEPLS)“. The video series is titled “Balancing Biodiversity and Community Resilience through Production Landscapes and Seascapes”, and consists of two videos:

• The guardians of Ecuador’s dry forest: A story of community resilience, a documentary about the community of Agua Blanca in Ecuador, the situation of the community and its SEPLS, and the application of the Indicators in an assessment workshop.

• Biodiversity and Resilience Indicators: Communities managing production landscapes and seascapes, an instructional video containing background explanations and advice for application of the Indicators through assessment workshops in communities.

These videos were produced as a result of assessment workshops held as part of the GEF-Satoyama Project, an IPSI collaborative activity.

Please see the IPSI website here for these and other videos.

26 July 2017: ISAP2017 Thematic Track Session “Putting sustainability at the heart of landscape and seascape management – Key roles played by subnational and local governments”

The IPSI Secretariat at the United Nations University Institute for Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS) organized a thematic track session on “Putting sustainability at the heart of landscape and seascape management – Key roles played by subnational and local governments” during the Ninth International Forum for Sustainable Asia and the Pacific (ISAP 2017), on Wednesday, 26 July 2017 in Yokohama, Japan.

The session focused on subnational policy-related activities toward sustainable management of natural resources in the context of the Satoyama Initiative. Prof. Kazuhiko Takeuchi (IGES; Integrated Research System for Sustainability Science, The University of Tokyo; UNU-IAS) gave opening remarks and an explanation of “Sustainable Landscape Management through the Satoyama Initiative”, followed by a panel session with speakers from IPSI-member organizations around Asia, and moderated by IPSI Secretariat Director Mr. Naoya Tsukamoto.

Panel presentations were given by IPSI members:

• Mr. Yutaka Takaishi of Hanshin-Kita District Administration Office, Hyogo Prefectural Government, Japan

• Mr. Gerald Jetony, Natural Resource Office of Sabah State Government, Malaysia

• Dr. Marcal Gusmao, Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Environment, Timor-Leste

• Dr. Pia Sethi, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), India

For a more information on the session, please see the IPSI website here.

New Book: The Science and Practice of Landscape Stewardship

The IPSI Secretariat recently received an announcement of a new book edited by Claudia Bieling and Tobias Plieninger, with contributions also by a number of other longtime IPSI friends. This volume should be of great interest to many readers interested in landscape approaches.

The first section of the book is dedicated to enhancing the understanding of the foundations of landscape stewardship. The second part moves to the practical application of landscape stewardship in different context and fields of application, such as rangelands, marine environments, urban landscapes, cultural heritage conservation, renewable energy supply, or recreation and tourism, and the third part takes a future-oriented perspective, exploring and substantiating visions of landscape stewardship. To increase the practical and policy relevance, the scholarly book chapters are complemented by a collection of cases of good practices.

More information on this book can be found on the Cambridge University Press website here.

New member introduction: ADESSARU

The Association for the Sustainable Development of Rural San Jose (ADESSARU) was formed in 1991 by a group from communities around Palmichal, Acosta, Costa Rica, who organized to protect the forest of the Nacientes Palmichal basin, formed by the Negro and Tabarcia Rivers, and to teach the population about conservation and protection.

Thanks to the support of Beneficio Palmichal Company the association was able to acquire 42 hectares, at 1500 meters above sea level including primary forest. This area used to be exploited for cattle farming, but is now used for water production and protection of flora and fauna. It will be declared the first Natural Monument in the country, managed by the local government of Acosta, the Ministry of Environment and the community. ADESSARU’s goal is to turn the basin in an open environmental classroom, where kids, students, teachers and neighbors can learn about sustainable and adequate use of natural resources, get to know conservation practices and share the resources of the basin with agro-ecological tourists. They organize an Ecology Week celebration for environmental education with kids and teachers, combining festivals, forums and other activities.

More information on ADESSARU and related activities can be found on the Nacientes Palimichal website here.