The Sixth IPSI Global Conference (IPSI-6): 12-14 January 2016, Siem Reap, Cambodia

The Sixth IPSI Global Conference (IPSI-6) was recently held in Siem Reap, Cambodia, organized by the IPSI Secretariat and hosted by the Ministry of Environment of the Kingdom of Cambodia. The Conference consisted of a meeting of the IPSI General Assembly, a Public Forum and an excursion for participants.

The General Assembly is primarily for information-sharing and decisions regarding the future direction of IPSI, and is open to all IPSI members. Major agenda items this time included the rotation of the IPSI Steering Committee and reporting on the growing number of IPSI members and collaborative activities (see articles below).

The theme of this year's Public Forum was "Planning and reviewing strategic actions for sustainable landscape and seascape management", and participants in both plenary sessions and working groups provided a large number of interesting presentations on various issues related to SEPLS management.

The excursion on 15 January gave participants a chance to see a number of sites from the ancient Angkor city and temple complex. and to consider various SEPLS-related issues discussed during the conference through concrete examples of work being done in the field. The excursion was made possible through the cooperation of the APSARA authority and Live & Learn Environmental Education, who are collaborating on an activity to rehabilitate the stressed water system of the area.

We at the Secretariat would like to once again thank all of the participants, and especially our gracious hosts at the Ministry of Environment of Cambodia. It is thanks to all of your help and support that the Global Conference was such a success.

A full report of IPSI-6 will be made available in the near future. In the meantime, more information can be found on the IPSI website here.

IPSI Welcomes Twelve New Members

We are pleased to announce that at its meeting in January 2016, the IPSI Steering Committee confirmed 12 new member organizations, bringing IPSI’s total membership to 184 organizations. It is therefore our pleasure to welcome:

• Centre for Chinese Agricultural Policy, Chinese Academy of Science (China)

• College of Natural Resources, Royal University of Bhutan (Bhutan)

• Community Based Environmental Conservation – COBEC (Kenya)

• Conservation Solutions Afrika (Kenya)

• Department of Forestry, Lilongwe University of Agriculture & Natural Resources (Malawi)

• Grains of Hope Mobilisation (GOHMO) (Malawi)

• Green Initiative NGO (Mongolia)

• Initiative for Community Health (INCH) (Malawi)

• Kenya Forestry Research Institute (KEFRI) (Kenya)

• Seeking To Equip People (STEP) Guinee NGO (Guinea)

• Tropical Institute of Ecological Sciences (India)

• UN Centre for Alleviation of Poverty through Sustainable Agriculture (CAPSA) (UN)

The new members, in addition to being involved in valuable projects in their own right, also help to increase IPSI’s presence by expanding our membership around the world, particularly in Africa – partially as a result of increased attention being paid to the African region since the Satoyama Initiative Regional Workshop in Africa held in Accra, Ghana in August 2015. We look forward to collaborating closely with all of them in promoting the concept of the Satoyama Initiative in the future.

Five New IPSI Collaborative Activities Approved

IPSI Collaborative Activities are activities carried out by at least two IPSI members (possibly in collaboration with other organizations), and approved as such by the IPSI Steering Committee. At its its meeting in January 2016, the IPSI Steering Committee approved the proposals for five new IPSI Collaborative Activities, bringing the total number of IPSI Collaborative Activities to 34.

The new activities are:

• Facilitating the Development of a Taiwan Partnership for the Satoyama Initiative (TPSI). Collaborating members: National Dong-Hwa University; SWAN International; Taiwan Ecological Engineering Development Foundation; EEFT.

• GEF-Satoyama Project. Collaborating members: Conservation International Japan; UNU-IAS; IGES; GEF Secretariat.

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Guidelines for the Management of Tara (Caesalpinea Spinosa) Plantations with a view to the Rehabilitation of Waste Lands in the Sub-Humid Tropics of the Coastal Region of Peru. Collaborating members: APAIC; ITTO.

 

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Rehabilitation and Sustainable Management of Sacred Forests on Ramsar Sites 1017 and 1018 in Benin. Collaborating members: ONG CeSaReN; ITTO. 

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Sustainable forest management, conservation of biological diversity and promotion of landscapes for socio-ecologic production in indigenous territories of the Uwalcox micro-watershed in Guatemala’s Western Altiplano. Collaborating members: Asociación Vivamos Mejor; ITTO.

 

We look forward to providing more information on the individual activities as it becomes available.

IPSI members are encouraged to propose any activities carried out in collaboration with other members as IPSI Collaborative Activities. This is a great opportunity to gain more attention for your activities and to improve IPSI's functioning as a partnership, as well as to improve SEPLS management through knowledge sharing. Please contact the IPSI Secretariat if you have any activities that may be potential IPSI Collaborative Activities.

More information on IPSI Collaborative Activities is available on the IPSI website here.

Satoyama Initiative Thematic Review Vol. 1

The “Satoyama Initiative Thematic Review” is a publication series, comprising a compilation of IPSI case studies providing knowledge and lessons related to “socio-ecological production landscapes and seascapes (SEPLS)”. It aims to collect experiences and relevant knowledge, especially from practitioners working on the ground, taking advantage of their potential for providing concrete and practical knowledge and information as well as contributing to policy recommendations. It also includes a synthesis chapter produced to clarify its relevance to policy and academic discussion and to help make lessons learned practical in the field.

The Satoyama Initiative Thematic Review vol. 1 was recently published, showcasing various case studies from around the world focusing on tools and approaches for “Enhancing knowledge for better management of socio-ecological production landscapes and seascapes (SEPLS)”, in particular those that are used by and with local communities and other stakeholders to deepen understanding of SEPLS and their management. The case studies demonstrate that appropriate selection and thoughtful use of tools and approaches can provide various different positive outcomes, not merely increasing knowledge but also creating preferable conditions that can lead to effective actions for SEPLS.

The Satoyama Initiative Thematic Review Vol. 1 is available for download from the IPSI websitehere.

Call for Papers: Satoyama Initiative Thematic Review Vol. 2

The IPSI Secretariat recently announced a call for papers for the second volume of the series “Satoyama Initiative Thematic Review”. The theme of this volume will be “Incorporating concepts and approaches of socio-ecological production landscapes and seascapes (SEPLS) into policy and decision-making”.

The second issue of the Satoyama Initiative Thematic Review will invite papers on lessons learned from processes for mainstreaming SEPLS concepts and approaches in policy and other frameworks that broadly affect people’s or organizations’ behavior and decision-making. The mainstreaming can relate to activities at multiple scales of operation (from landscape to provincial to national or regional) that demonstrate how to include SEPLS priorities in relevant policies at the scale of operation.

Authors from IPSI member organizations who have case studies relevant to the theme are highly encouraged to submit a manuscript by 22 January 2016.

For more information on the scope, timeline, eligibility and submission, please see the IPSI website here.

COMDEKS Newsletter – A quarterly update of activities – Issue 14

The Community Development and Knowledge Management for the Satoyama Initiative (COMDEKS) programme is a unique global programme implemented by the UNDP as a collaborative activity under IPSI. The fourteenth issue of the COMDEKS Newsletter was recently published, highlighting:

(1) COMDEKS grantee in Mongolia among finalists for Equator Prize 2015
(2) Women’s Organization contributes to the resilient landscapes in the Yaku Samai Biocorridor, Ecuador
(3) Conservation of biodiversity and drilling in the Bogo landscape, Cameroon
(4) Climate-smart agriculture and apiary development for sustainable livelihoods in the Weto Range, Ghana
(5) Portfolio updates: Videos from Ecuador and photo story from Indonesia

The COMDEKS Newsletter is available for download on the COMDEKS website here.

IPSI Steering Committee Membership Rotation

The IPSI Steering Committee is made up of 11 to 22 IPSI members, who are selected by the IPSI General Assembly to serve for two terms of the General Assembly. Steering Committee membership rotation was on the agenda for the IPSI-6 General Assembly meeting in January 2016, and it was determined that the next term of the Steering Committee will include the following members:

• Ghana National Biodiversity Committee (Chair)

• Asociación ANDES

• Association for the Agroindustry Development in Camana (APAIC)

• Bioversity International

• Conservation International

• Faculty of Science, University of Sarajevo

• Forest Peoples Programme

• Global Environment Facility (GEF) Secretariat

• Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES)

• International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO)

• Kenya Wetlands Biodiversity Research Team (KENWEB)

• Live & Learn Environmental Education

• Ministry of Environment, Cambodia

• Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation, Nepal

• Ministry of the Environment, Japan

• M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF)

• Nature and Livelihoods

• Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (SCBD)

• Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP)

• United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

• United Nations University (UNU)

We at the Secretariat would like to extend our sincere thanks to two organizations who are stepping down from the Steering Committee at this time, namely the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), and the TEBTEBBA Foundation. Both of these organizations have given much hard work on behalf of IPSI during their time on the Steering Committee, and we look forward to continuing our collaboration with them in other ways in the future.

The new Steering Committee members also met informally on the margins of IPSI-6, and it was decided that Prof. Alfred Oteng-Yeboah from the Ghana National Biodiversity Committee would continue as Chair of the IPSI Steering Committee. We at the Secretariat would like to express our sincere gratitude to Prof. Oteng-Yeboah for his past and ongoing guidance.

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.