IPSI Newsletter, March 2019

2019.03.20

Dear IPSI members and friends,

Greetings from the IPSI Secretariat in Tokyo, Japan. IPSI and its members continue to stay active in a wide variety of projects and activities related to maintaining and revitalizing socio-ecological production landscapes and seascapes (SEPLS).

This month's newsletter contains information about the finalized report and collected abstracts from IPSI-7, and announcements from the Global Landscapes Forum and the UNESCO-Greece Melina Mercouri prize for cultural landscapes. We are also pleased to feature one of IPSI's most recent case studies from Greenglobe Ghana.

As always, we hope you will contact us to submit any new case studies or other information about your activities, or if you have any questions or comments.

IPSI Secretariat

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IPSI-7 Summary Report and Presentation Abstracts now available

The official report for the Seventh IPSI Global Conference (IPSI-7), including a compilation of presentation abstracts from all speakers, has been completed and is now available for download. The report contains a great deal of information about IPSI-7, which was held 29 September – 2 October 2018 in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. More information about the event is available on the event announcement page here.

The report is available for download on the IPSI website here.

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Global Landscapes Forum Kyoto 2019

The Global Landscapes Forum Kyoto 2019 will be held on 13 May 2019 in Kyoto, Japan. Experts from science, business, policy, international development and more will come join in person and online to focus on sustainable landscapes as one of the keys to climate mitigation and adaptation. Staff members from the IPSI Secretariat will be attending the Forum to promote landscape approaches under the Satoyama Initiative, and look forward to meeting any IPSI members and other friends who will be there. Please be sure to let us know if you plan to attend the Forum and any plans for your participation.

More information is available on the Global Landscapes Forum website here.

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UNESCO-Greece Melina Mercouri International Prize for the Safeguarding and Management of Cultural Landscapes

Nominations are now being accepted by IPSI member UNESCO for the UNESCO-Greece Melina Mercouri International Prize for the Safeguarding and Management of Cultural Landscapes, which was created in 1995 to reward outstanding examples of action to safeguard and enhance the world’s cultural landscapes. The prize is administered by UNESCO's World Heritage Centre, awarding a USD $30,000 prize to one laureate every two years. Individuals, site managers, institutions, other entities, communities or non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that have made a significant contribution to the safeguarding, management and enhancement of the world’s major cultural landscapes are eligible for nomination. Readers are encouraged to consider nominating anyone in or beyond the IPSI community who has made a significant contribution.

More information, including the nomination process, can be found at the UNESCO World Heritage Centre website here.

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Recent Case Study: Greenglobe Ghana

The IPSI Secretariat recently received a case study from partner organization Greenglobe Ghana, titled “Conserving Biodiversity and Livelihood Enhancement: the case of Saviefe Communities on the Weto Landscape in Ghana”.

The Weto Landscape, a biodiversity hotspot, has been losing its natural resources as a result of unsustainable use, hence the need for activities towards resilience. Forests have disappeared, the mountain range contains several animal species which are becoming endangered and scarce, land has degraded, and little concerted resource management action through livelihood activities as well as feeble authoritative action prevails. In response to the call by the COMDEKS Project, Greenglobe Ghana proposed and implemented initiatives that demonstrated livelihood support with integrating biological, indigenous knowledge, and cultural diversity in the landscape communities of Saviefe Gbogame, Agorkpo, and Deme under the working topic, “Livelihood Promotion and Institutional Building for Natural Resource Management”. Knowledge about the area indicated that traditional knowledge and practices with adherence to customary norms, taboos, and totems were integrated into landscape management plan to strengthen the management of local institutions. Introduction of activities of diversifying sources of incomes without compromising the resilience of the ecosystem as livestock rearing, beekeeping, mushroom production, rice and vegetable field’s development, cocoa and fruit trees cultivation was promoted. Capacity of traditional leadership, and revitalize fire volunteer squads, community forest management committees and landscape management volunteers to participate in the landscape resilience activities was also promoted. Forest restoration activities such as natural regeneration and a forestation were enhanced.

For more information, please see the full write-up of the case study on the IPSI website here.

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Contact

Please be sure to let the Secretariat know if there are any changes in your e-mail address or contact information.

Secretariat of the International Partnership for the Satoyama Initiative
5–53–70 Jingumae
Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-8925
Japan

Tel: +81 3-5467-1212
Fax: +81 3-3499-2828

Email: isi@unu.edu

If you have been forwarded this newsletter and would like to SUBSCRIBE, you can do so on the IPSI website here.