Yokohama/Vienna, 17 November 2021: ITTO and the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) have released a free series of learning modules for high-school and university students to guide further understanding on forest landscape restoration (FLR).
FLR involves using holistic approaches to restore ecological functioning of degraded landscapes and simultaneously creating diverse, sustainable socio-economic benefits for people living in the landscapes on a wider scale. Putting it into practice, however, is not so easy. FLR has many dimensions, and educating future generations is crucial for its success.
Released as a contribution to the 2021–2030 UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, the new learning modules developed by ITTO and IUFRO have been crafted to raise awareness among the next generation of professionals and policy- and decision-makers of the vital role that FLR will play in restoring degraded landscapes. The modules contain the latest knowledge on FLR, drawing on publications such as the ITTO Guidelines for Forest Landscape Restoration in the Tropics; IUFRO’s Practitioner’s Guide for Implementing Forest Landscape Restoration; IUFRO’s Occasional Paper No. 33–Forest Landscape Restoration Implementation: Lessons Learned from Selected Landscapes in Africa, Asia and Latin America and FAO’s Sustainable Financing for Forest and Landscape Restoration e-course.
The modules can be used by high schools and universities across the tropics and elsewhere to boost curricula in science, social science, agriculture, climate change, environmental studies, forestry, geography, and planning and development studies.
The learning modules comprise four PowerPoint presentations, together with handouts for teachers and students. Each presentation is illustrated by case studies and videos and features a series of questions and assignments.
- Module 1 (FLR principles) introduces the six globally recognized principles of FLR, discusses their conceptual basis and presents guiding elements for each principle.
- Module 2 (FLR project design and implementation) explores the FLR process through the design and implementation of long-term on-the-ground interventions.
- Module 3 (FLR facilitation and capacity development) looks at the skills people need to implement FLR.
- Module 4 (Securing FLR finances) examines ways to obtain finance for implementing an FLR project.
The modules can be adapted to include locally relevant examples of FLR.
The production of the four modules was supported by a joint FLR initiative of the Collaborative Partnership on Forests, with finance from the Global Environment Facility project, “Fostering partnerships to build coherence and support for FLR”.
Download the FLR learning modules and handouts (in English only) at:
IUFRO website link: https://www.iufro.org/science/special/spdc/netw/flr/lmflr/
NOTES TO EDITORS
Media contact ITTO: Ramon Carrillo, carrillo@itto.int
The International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) is an intergovernmental organization promoting the sustainable management and conservation of tropical forests and the expansion and diversification of international trade in tropical timber from sustainably managed and legally harvested forests. For more information contact itto@itto.int or visit www.itto.int.
Media contact IUFRO: Gerda Wolfrum, wolfrum@iufro.org
The International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) is a world-wide organization devoted to forest research and related sciences. Its members are research institutions, universities, and individual scientists as well as decision-making authorities and other stakeholders with a focus on forests and trees. https://www.iufro.org
