Background:

The Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), established under an initiative of the Japanese government in 1998, is a research institute focusing on national and international environmental policies for realising sustainable development in the Asia-Pacific region. Its research encompasses various environmental fields, of which natural resource management constitutes one of the core groups of the organisation alongside climate change and sustainable consumption and production.

Through involvement in international policy initiatives and networking activities, IGES contributes to policy formulation through information dissemination and recommendations based on research outcomes. As well as participating in major international conferences, IGES holds the annual International Forum for Sustainable Asia and the Pacific (ISAP), sharing the latest research results and facilitating discussions among stakeholders for new policy recommendations. Based on case studies of participatory community forest management in Southeast Asia, IGES has also accumulated knowledge on sustainable use and management of natural resources, as well as on policy implications and challenges to promote participatory community forest management.

IGES has been collaborating with the United Nations University – Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS), which is the Secretariat of the International Partnership for the Satoyama Initiative (IPSI), since the initial stages of IPSI, and hopes to contribute to the activities of the partnership primarily through research, which is of strong relevance to promoting the concept of Socio-Ecological Production Landscapes within the biodiversity conservation discourse.

Objectives:

Through the IPSI Collaborative Activity entitled “Exploring options to integrate the Satoyama Initiative within policies and decision-making processes”, the implementing partners aim to promote the real-life application, recovery or maintenance of sustainable practices observed within various Socio-Ecological Production landscapes (SEPLs) around the world, and to provide inputs to the development of future IPSI Strategic Plans based on its research findings especially on options to integrate the Satoyama Initiative within policies and decision-making processes.

Activities:

To achieve the above objectives, IGES, in collaboration with the IPSI Secretariat and members, will conduct the following activities:

• Share the preliminary research outcomes on how policies can best integrate or promote the concept of the Satoyama Initiative based on various case studies through discussions in relevant IPSI related meetings/workshops;

1. Communicate and collaborate with diverse IPSI members to identify background, factors and policies that support the sustainable use or resilience of Socio-Ecological Production Landscapes (SEPLs);
2. Incorporate the discussions and comments from various stakeholders of IPSI into final research findings and policy recommendations;

• Organise an IPSI workshop and plenary session at the ISAP2012 to deepen discussions on “Exploring options to integrate the Satoyama Initiative within policies and decision-making processes” by inviting key stakeholders of IPSI;
• Disseminate research findings and policy recommendations based on various case studies and arising from the IPSI Collaborative Activity through IGES partners and other relevant networks.

Outputs:

• Produce a manuscript of research working paper for IPSI related workshops under consultation with UNU-IAS
• Produce draft research findings and policy recommendations before IPSI third Global Conference (IPSI-3) under consultation with UNU-IAS
• Produce final research findings and policy recommendations incorporating the discussions and comments of IPSI-3, and present the final paper

Timeline:

Potential partners to be engaged:

IPSI member organisations that are considered to have experience and expertises that corresponds to this project, and others to be solicited during the project period