Background

The Satoyama Initiative aims to conserve sustainable human influenced natural environments (Socio-ecological production landscapes; SEPL) through broader global recognition of their value. The partnership, IPSI, comprises organisations committed to support SEPL for the benefit of biodiversity and human well-being through the implementation of their respective activities.

Knowledge facilitation will focus on SEPL to enhance understanding and raise awareness of their importance. Sharing case studies, examples of successful implementation of SEPL, knowledge and other relevant information among IPSI members as well as policy makers and a wider audience will ensure that the impacts of the Satoyama Initiative benefits from the strengths and experiences of the various participating organisations. These experiences can be part of capacity building activities and help in the replication of successes. Knowledge facilitation will thus ultimately contribute to slowing the escalating loss of biodiversity worldwide, with the dual impacts of retaining and enhancing biodiversity in SEPL and promoting the sustainable use of natural resources.

Development and advancement of knowledge facilitation will be achieved through the active participation of diverse experts and organisations. The UNU, a world-class international research, teaching and capacity development institution, focuses on knowledge production, broadening knowledge accumulation, strengthening knowledge dissemination and sharing. The SCBD is strengthening its information dissemination activities on public awareness, information and training, in order to facilitate the implementation of Article 13 of the Convention on Public Education and Awareness. UNEP-WCMC is an internationally recognised centre of excellence for the synthesis, analysis and dissemination of global biodiversity knowledge, providing authoritative, strategic and timely information for conventions, countries, organisations and companies to use in the development and implementation of their policies and decisions. These three organisations, with their capacity and accumulated experiences, are ideally positioned to lead this activity in collaboration with other interested organisations.

Overview of the activities

This proposal illustrates activities envisaged for Activity Cluster 1: Knowledge Facilitation. The activities comprise three parts, namely data collection, analysis and dissemination, and focus on the collection, analysis and utilisation of knowledge and its contribution to capacity building, replication and up-scaling of good practices in SEPL.

The collection of case studies and development of a well-organised database of these examples and experiences will support those working on similar issues and extracting of good practices and lessons learnt. Comparing and synthesising them further enables a deeper understanding of SEPL, their characteristics, their status and local contexts and actions needed for their conservation.

In addition, the development of a dissemination strategy to raise awareness and understanding and to encourage implementation by IPSI members will be a crucial dimension of knowledge facilitation activities. UNU, SCBD and UNEP-WCMC will ensure effective dissemination of the outcomes of this project through the Satoyama Initiative website and the CBD clearing house mechanism and make full use of UNU networks and regional workshops being organised by the SCBD in the context of its work on National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs).

(i) Collection of case studies and other relevant information, and development of the database

Case studies from IPSI members: Case studies will be collected from IPSI members in line with the Operational Framework which states that all IPSI members have to contribute at least one case study report on their activities in relation to SEPL. UNU-IAS will draw information for case studies from literature and receive them from IPSI members and other stakeholders.

Examples from IPSI activities: Results and experiences from ‘Community Development and Knowledge Management for the Satoyama Initiative (COMDEKS)’ activities, proposed by UNDP and others under clusters 1 and 5 will be utilised. Results from other IPSI collaborative activities along with members’ contributions will be encouraged.

Examples from relevant projects: The UNU, SCBD and UNEP-WCMC will make full use of their worldwide global network to compile useful case studies and other relevant information on SEPL from similar sources and projects. In particular, UNEP-WCMC will contribute information from the World Database on Protected Areas and the Indigenous and Community Conserved Areas Registry

Development of database: All collected data including case studies, relevant information from IPSI activities and from other sources will be on the Satoyama Initiative website developed and maintained by UNU which allows users to search for data based on geography and themes. Relevant information from this database will also be accessible from partner databases, where relevant to ensure that the values of SEPL are widely shared.

(ii) Analysis of case studies and dissemination of results:

All data will be analysed to understand SEPL’s characteristics, their status and local contexts and actions needed for their conservation as well as to identify ingredients of success for SEPL. These enable the extraction of good practices and lessons that may be introduced into capacity building and other activities.

Results from the analysis of good practices and lessons learnt will be presented in the IPSI case study report or other documents and will be shared with a wider audience through the Satoyama Initiative website. The results will also be widely disseminated and utilised for capacity building activities through appropriate mechanisms including the Public Forum of the IPSI Global Conference, regional workshops to be organised by SCBD, various other side-events, meetings and workshops.

Expected time frame

• 19 April 2011: Case study collection (Deadline for submission for founding members of IPSI)
• April to August 2011: Gathering case studies from literature and from other stakeholders
• May 2011-: Sharing of case studies on the Satoyama Initiative web site
• August 2011-March 2012: Analysis of case studies and publication of the first report

Contact details:

UNU: Kaoru Ichikawa (ichikawa@ias.unu.edu) /Aya Takatsuki (takatsuki@ias.unu.edu)

SCBD: Jo Kalemani Mulongoy (jo.mulongoy@cbd.int)

UNEP-WCMC: Charles Besancon (Charles.Besancon@unep-wcmc.org)