New IPSI Website Launched

We are extremely pleased to announce that our new website has been completed, and is now available for public viewing. The website contains a wealth of information about the International Satoyama Initiative, IPSI, and our partners, as well as the latest announcements and events.

Improved features on the new website include more detailed information about IPSI, its activities and members; improved ease-of-use for finding important IPSI publications, pamphlets, founding documents, and promotional materials; archives of past events, newsletters, and others; and an attractive new layout that should make it easy to find whatever IPSI-related information you are looking for. We hope IPSI members and non-members alike will find it a valuable hub for information-sharing about all kinds of SEPLS-related activities.

Please take a moment to visit the new website at satoyama-initiative.org.

Collaborative Activity Update: Seminars and Workshop for Indicators of Resilience in Socio-Ecological Production Landscapes and Seascapes held in Rome, Italy

The Indicators of Resilience in Socio-Ecological Production Landscapes and Seascapes (SEPLS) is a collaborative activity, initiated in 2011, between Bioversity International and the United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS) under the International Partnership for the Satoyama Initiative (IPSI). The resilience indicators are a way to assess the current status of the use and management of biodiversity in production landscapes and seascapes, and to support communities in continuing to maintain and scale up biodiversity in productive and biodiversity rich landscapes. Since 2013, UNDP and IGES have also been involved in the project, with all parties working together to develop a toolkit for application of the indicators in the field.

A workshop was held at Bioversity International headquarters in Rome from 29 to 31 January 2014 with the purposes of: reviewing the first draft set of indicators based on field testing carried out by Bioversity International and UNDP; and beginning the process of creating a toolkit for practitioners to use while implementing the indicators in the field.

The first day of the workshop consisted of an opening ceremony and seminars by a number of interested parties. After a brief explanation of the indicators project by Pablo Eyzaguirre of Bioversity International, opening remarks were given by Ann Tutwiler, Director General of Bioversity International, who stressed the importance of the indicators approach in various conservation-related fields. Next, Kaoru Ichikawa from UNU-IAS gave an overview of the indicator approach in understanding resilience of SEPLS. Diana Salvemini, COMDEKS Project Manager at UNDP, then spoke about lessons learned from testing of the indicators and a community-based landscape approach to resilience. Nadia Bergamini from Bioversity International presented results of field testing the indicators in various countries, followed by Ikuko Matsumoto from the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), who talked about the development of the toolkit. This was followed by a brief presentation by Corinna Del Bianco of the Romualdo Del Bianco Foundation’s Life Beyond Tourism, which will serve as the host for IPSI’s European Regional Workshop in Florence in May 2014. Finally, Dr. Parviz Koohafkan from Bioversity International gave a presentation on the importance of agrobiodiversity for sustainable development, followed by a short question-and-answer session.

The second and third days were taken up by intensive discussions among the members of the team working on developing the Indicators Toolkit. The discussions were very productive under the leadership of Dr. Pablo Eyzaguirre of Bioversity International. It is planned that the toolkit will be launched during the 5th IPSI Global Conference (IPSI-5) and CBD COP12 in October 2014.

This event was an excellent opportunity to connect with a large number of people working in indicators and landscapes, and to engage in very productive discussion. The workshop was very successful due to the active participation of the members and generosity of the host, Bioversity International.

IPSI-4 Official Report Published

We are proud to announce that our final summary report from the Fourth IPSI Global Conference (IPSI-4) has been compiled and is now available on our website. The report contains summaries of all of the IPSI-4 events and other events surrounding the conference, as well as pictures showing the atmosphere of the various events. Whether you were able to attend the conference or not, please have a look at the report for some of the latest information on IPSI, its members, and activities.

The report, as well as documentation from previous IPSI Global Conferences, can be found on ourPublications page.

IPSI Plan of Action Finalized

IPSI's Plan of Action, one of the Partnership's fundamental documents, has recently been updated with revisions based on feedback from Steering Committee members and our experiences over the past four years. The latest version of the document is available for download at our website here. We hope IPSI members will take a moment to look at the Plan of Action to learn more about IPSI's operations and future direction.

Partner Links

Our partners at Bioversity International have kindly posted an article about the Indicators for Resilience in Socio-Ecological Production Landscapes and Seascapes project, a collaborative activity between the Satoyama Initiative and Bioversity International, including PowerPoint presentations from our recent seminar on the project (see above). Click here for the article.

Be sure to have a look at the most recent issue of the newsletter for the Community Development and Knowledge Management for the Satoyama Initiative (COMDEKS) project here.

We invite all IPSI members to keep us updated on your activities, and send us any links for updates you think may be helpful for other members.

Contact

Secretariat of the International Partnership for the Satoyama Initiative
6F International Organizations Center
Pacifico-Yokohama
1-1-1 Minato Mirai, Nishi-ku
Yokohama 220-8502
Japan

Tel: +81-45-221-2300
Fax: +81-45-221-2302
Email: isi@ias.unu.edu