Photo: Maria Ölund
Landscape Approach: the New Hype? Reflections from the Global Landscape Forum
SIANI blog post by the Focali Project Coordinator Maria Ölund
“We are two Swedish networks… the research network Focali, focusing on Forest, Climate and Livelihood issues and SIANI, the Swedish International Agricultural Network Initiative…”
“Agriculture you say?” … the man I was talking to stops listening and turns to his colleague “then you should talk with this man instead, he works at the Department of Agriculture, I work at the Department of Natural Resources”…
This scene took place at the joint Focali and SIANI exhibition booth on the second day of the Global Landscape Forum held in Warsaw, 16-17 November 2013 on the sidelines of the UN climate change negotiations, COP19. It was a Sunday so there were no negotiations at COP, and several hundreds of COP delegates joined 1000 participants of the Global Landscape Forum. Numerous visitors passed by our joint booth and stopped for some Swedish confection, a short conversation and to have a look at our publications at display. These two men were country delegates; they had traveled across the globe to attend COP19 and they also came to the Global Landscape Forum.
The conversation I had with them captures in a nutshell why a landscape approach is needed. It also demonstrates that the GLF has the potential to be a cross-sector meeting place and, finally, it points out the necessity that initiatives such as SIANI and Focali deepen their collaboration and inspire others to enhance interactions across sectorial and organizational barriers.
