Landscape Partnership Asia
Restoring Drylands and Drought-Prone Areas
Building a green, healthy and resilient future with forests
17:30–19:00 (KST), Monday 2 May 2022
The official launch of the Partnership will take place at a formal side event of the World Forestry Congress, in person in Seoul, Republic of Korea and online.
The launch will feature presentations from Landscape Partnership Asia’s partners and distinguished guests who will join a panel discussion on the importance of forest landscape restoration for achieving land degradation neutrality by 2030, in Asia and beyond.
The side event will unveil the Partnership’s 10-year Vision, Strategy and Roadmap.
Investment and membership opportunities will be shared alongside activities to support achievements toward zero net land degradation.
Join founding partner representatives for an overview of Landscape Partnership Asia, why dryland and drought-prone area restoration in Asia is important, how the Partnership will address the biggest challenges in the region and how the program will impact Asia and the world.
Audience members will also have the opportunity to participate in a facilitated Q&A.
For details of speakers and the full agenda please click here.
Background to Landscape Partnership Asia
Land degradation is negatively affecting the well-being of the world’s critical dryland ecosystems, which are home to 2.5 billion people. In Asia, drylands represent over 50% of the continent’s land surface. Despite the growing challenges of land degradation on biodiversity conservation, food security and climate-change mitigation and adaptation, few transboundary initiatives exist to restore degraded drylands drought-prone areas in Asia.
To address this gap, the Asian Forest Cooperation Organization, the Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF), and the Global EverGreening Alliance established the Landscape Partnership Asia.
The partners, with many others, aim to bring 10 million hectares of degraded land under integrated dryland and drought management by 2032. At least 14 countries in Central, East, South and Southeast Asia have already confirmed their participation, with more expected to join.
Read more
Asian Forest Cooperation Organization, Center for International Forestry Research, Global EverGreening Alliance, World Agroforestry (ICRAF). 2021. Landscape Partnership Asia: restoring drylands and drought-prone areas: vision, strategy and roadmap. Seoul, Republic of Korea: Asian Forest Cooperation Organization; Bogor, Indonesia: Center for International Forestry Research; Melbourne, Australia: Global EverGreening Alliance; Bogor, Indonesia: World Agroforestry (ICRAF).
Asian Forest Cooperation Organization, Center for International Forestry Research, Global EverGreening Alliance, World Agroforestry (ICRAF). 2021. Landscape Partnership Asia: restoring drylands and drought-prone areas: program overview. Seoul, Republic of Korea: Asian Forest Cooperation Organization; Bogor, Indonesia: Center for International Forestry Research; Melbourne, Australia: Global EverGreening Alliance; Bogor, Indonesia: World Agroforestry (ICRAF).
Background on Asian drylands and drought-prone areas
Abel C, Horion S, Tagesson T, De Keersmaecker W, Seddon AW, Abdi AM, Fensholt R. 2021. The Huma–environment nexus and vegetation–rainfall sensitivity in tropical drylands. Nature Sustainability 4(1):25–32. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-020-00597-z
Bastin JF, Berrahmouni N, Grainger A, Maniatis D, Mollicone D, Moore R, Patriarca C, Picard N, Sparrow B, Abraham EM, Aloui K. 2017. The extent of forest in dryland biomes. Science 356(6338):635–638. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aam6527
Chu L, Quentin Grafton R, Nguyen H. 2022. A global analysis of the break-even prices to reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide via forest plantation and avoided deforestation. Forest Policy and Economics 135, February:102666. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1389934121002720
D’Odorico P, Bhattachan A, Davis KF, Ravi S, Runyan CW. 2013. Global desertification: drivers and feedbacks. Advances in Water Resources 51:326–344. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.advwatres.2012.01.013
Henebry GM, Chen J, Gutman G, Kappas M. 2020. Multiple perspectives on drylands across Greater Central Asia. In: Gutman G, Chen J, Henebry G, Kappas M, eds. Landscape dynamics of drylands across Greater Central Asia: people, societies and ecosystems. Landscape Series Vol 17. Cham, Switzerland: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30742-4_1
Huang J, Yu H, Guan X, Wang G, Guo R. 2016. Accelerated dryland expansion under climate change. Nature 6:166–171. https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2837
Le HD, Smith C, Herbohn J, Harrison S. 2012. More than just trees: assessing reforestation success in tropical developing countries. Journal of Rural Studies 28(1):5-19. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0743016711000568
Prăvălie R. 2016. Drylands extent and environmental issues. A global approach. Earth-Science Reviews 161:259–278. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2016.08.003
Reynolds JF, Smith DMS, Lambin EF, Turner BL, Mortimore M, Batterbury SPJ, Downing TE, Dowlatabadi H, Fernandez RJ, Herrick JE, Huber-Sannwald E, Jiang H, Leemans R, Lynman T, Maestre FT, Ayarza M, Walker B. 2007. Global desertification: building a science for dryland development. Science 316(5826):847–851. http://doi.org/10.1126/science.1131634
Robinson S. 2016. Land degradation in Central Asia: evidence, perception and policy. In: Behnke R, Mortimore M, eds. The end of desertification? Springer Earth System Sciences. Berlin, Germany: Springer. pp 451–490. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-16014-1_17
Saibo L, He S. 2022. The variation of net primary productivity and underlying mechanisms vary under different drought stress in Central Asia from 1990 to 2020. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 314, 1 March:108767. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0168192321004536
Sarira TV, Zeng Y, Neugarten R, Chaplin-Kramer R, Koh LP. 2022. Co-benefits of forest carbon projects in Southeast Asia. Nature Sustainability. Brief Communication. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-022-00849-0.pdf?proof=t
Smith WK, Dannenberg, MP, Yan D, Herrmann S, Barnes ML, Barron-Gafford GA, Biederman JA, Ferrenberg S, Fox AM, Hudson A, Knowles JF. 2019. Remote sensing of dryland ecosystem structure and function: progress, challenges, and opportunities. Remote Sensing of Environment 233:111401. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2019.111401
[UNCCD] United Nations Convention on Combatting Desertification. 2015. Pivotal carbon. Science–Policy Brief. UNCCD Science–Policy Interface. Bonn, Germany: United Nations Convention on Combatting Desertification. https://knowledge.unccd.int/sites/default/files/2018-09/SPIPB_3_ENG_WEB.pdf
[UNESCAP] United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, [ASEAN] Association of Southeast Asian Nations. 2020. Ready for the dry years: building resilience to drought in South-East Asia. Second edition. Executive summary for policymakers. Bangkok, Thailand: United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. https://asean.org/book/ready-for-the-dry-years-building-resilience-to-drought-in-south-east-asia-second-edition-executive-summary-for-policy-makers/
