Landscape approaches and their impact
Evaluating IDH efforts in creating cohesive conservation
Following five years of IDH’s Landscape Program, KIT Royal Tropical Institute and Unique Land Use carried out an independent evaluation of the program and its outcomes.
Read the document for a full summary of the assessment, including insights into how IDH applies a landscape approach in Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Liberia and Brazil.
Evaluation Highlights
- Strong consensus among landscape stakeholders that multi-stakeholder approach results in actionable targets.
- The landscape approach is shown to be complementary to existing government policies
- Most stakeholders indicate that project activities and collaboration will continue after the end of funding period.
- IDH has successfully scaled adoption of sustainable agricultural practices in various landscapes, including Mato Grosso (Brazil), West Kalimantan (Indonesia) and Central Highlands (Vietnam)
- IDH’s multistakeholder governance ‘Compact’ structure has been replicated in Colombia and Maranhão State.
- Increased private sector funding linked to high achievement of target outcomes (e.g. training delivered and business cases developed) in Indonesia.
© IDH
According to landscape stakeholders survey on the ISLA program
- 82% of respondents indicated that ISLA contributed to a change in business practices.
- 95% of countries reported changes at the policy or regulatory level contributing to sustainable production and management of natural resources.
Learning outcomes
- The presence of a credible and trusted convening body in a landscape can accelerate the engagement process
- Strong policies on deforestation are only as effective as the capacity to enforce them.
- The IDH Landscape Program proved most effective at filling the role of convenor bringing different parties together to share knowledge and identify priorities to be addressed.
- The flexibility of the Landscape Program makes it possible to effectively adapt the approach in landscapes with limited connection to international value chains