AFF Community of Practice Concept Note:

Strengthening sustainable agricultural solutions for halting deforestation in Africa

 Via Howspace, a UNREDD+ academy platform for learning and knowledge sharing 

(Register here: https://www.un-redd.org/events/strengthening-sustainable-agricultural-solutions-halting-deforestation-africa  )

Context

Forests play a vital role in supporting climate stability, biodiversity, food security, and the livelihoods of millions of people in Africa. Despite their importance, Africa experienced the highest level of net forests loss over the past decade, largely attributed to a growing population requiring more land and resources from natural forests. Between 2010 and 2020, Africa lost an annual rate of 4.4 million ha. From 2000 and 2018, cropland expansion dominated the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation in Africa - accounting for 77%, followed by livestock grazing (16%), and urban and infrastructure development (3%)  [FAO, 2022]. Cropland expansion is the most significant cause of deforestation in Africa, which highlights the urgent need to accelerate positive linkages between forestry and agriculture.

A key solution to agriculture-linked deforestation in Africa lies in supporting small-scale farming. Unlike the global trend, where 68% of agriculture driven deforestation is linked to small-scale farming, the figure rises to 97% in Africa. Large-scale agriculture plays a major role only in  few regions, such as the southern coast of West Africa [Branthomme, 2023].  Tackling deforestation in Africa, therefore, requires strengthening smallholder's sustainable  production system  while responding to critical needs like food security, income generation, and securing land tenure rights for local communities [UNSD, 2024].

African countries have invested in developing frameworks, institutions, capacity, and knowledge with a view to contributing to the mitigation target of keeping GHG emissions within 1.5/2 degrees. In recent decades, collective action and mutual collaboration between the public and the private sector, along with various multilateral initiatives, have played a crucial role in combating deforestation and forest degradation. Initiatives such as the UN-REDD Programme, the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF), and the Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI) have provided financial and technical support to countries in developing REDD+ strategies and building monitoring systems. To date, in the REDD+ contexts, 31 African countries have submitted reference levels, covering 429.5 million hectares of forest area.

At the global level, commitments made at COP26 and COP28, such as the Glasgow Leaders' Declaration on Forests and Land Use, and upcoming COP30, have reinforced the urgency to halt deforestation and  promoting sustainable land use practices in alignment with the Paris Agreement where forests are recognized as vital climate solution.  At the same time, new market based regulations, such as the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), and corporate zero-deforestation commitments are reshaping expectations for commodity production and trade into more sustainable practices. These changes present both opportunities and challenges for African producers and governments, who must navigate complex compliance requirements while striving to enhance rural development and safeguarding forest integrity.

To accelerate solutions for reducing forest loss related to agricultural expansion, FAO and the UN-REDD Programme are supporting countries in identifying and scaling up practices that reduce the trade-offs and maximize the synergies between agriculture and forestry. Growing evidence, including decades of REDD+ implementation, show it is possible to transition towards food systems that are economically viable, environmentally sound, and socially inclusive.  

In this context, the UN-REDD AFF initiative, with the Japan funded BiG-CHANCE project, are jointly co-organizing a 3 day long Community of Practice (CoP). CoP will consist of a webinar series inviting experts to share tools and technical solutions and countries to share their experiences and web-based discussion through the chat function.

The webinar series will consist of seven sessions: an introductory session, followed by six thematic sessions,  strengthening land governance, scaling sustainable agricultural production models, increasing the consumption and trade of responsibly produced agricultural commodities, creating incentives, enhancing availability and use of data, and improving rural livelihoods and promoting equity and inclusion, based on the different systemic shifts identified during the development and contained within the framework of the Solutions-tree, where innovative tools and case examples from countries and local practitioners will be presented.

Objectives

The objectives of this webinar series are as follows:

• Showcase and enable sharing of existing solutions and country experiences addressing agriculture-linked deforestation in the region and lessons learnt on connection with REDD+ strategies and/or Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
• Facilitate regional multistakeholder dialogue and learning exchanges on effective approaches to reduce deforestation through sustainable commodities
• Raise awareness of governments, experts, and practitioners with existing tools and initiatives that support efforts to reduce agriculture linked deforestation and that prompt enhanced synergies across the sectors
• Foster regional cooperation, South-South exchange and peer-learning to advance commodities production decoupled from deforestation (or deforestation-free as per private sector language) agricultural practices in Africa.
• Facilitate collective identification and prioritization of themes of common interest for continued joint learning and action.

Expected outcomes

• Gain insights into effective policy interventions, institutional arrangements, and strategies currently being implemented in African countries to halt deforestation, including key lessons learnt on linking sustainable commodities with REDD+ strategies and NDCs ;
• Strengthened regional peer learning, collaboration, and capacity to develop and implement deforestation-free policies and practices;
• Increased awareness and deeper understandings of key tools and initiatives that enable multiple solutions necessary to address these challenges effectively;
• Support and expand networks of multistakeholder professionals committed to sustained dialogue and collaboration in promoting deforestation-free and sustainable land use across
• Develop a short list of priority themes and an initial work plan / roadmap for the community of practice to pursue in subsequent sessions.

Target audience / Participants

The CoP is targeted at policy makers, technical experts, practitioners, and private sector actors from various African countries involved in agriculture, forestry, land management, and climate initiatives.

Preliminary Agenda

Each session will be focused on key intervention areas/theme, which will start with a technical presentation from experts, followed by a presentation from countries to share local actions/ country case example. After the presentations, participants will be invited to engage in a moderated discussion and Q&A.  In addition, at the end of the webinar there will be a short co-creation segment, where participants collectively identify priority issues, knowledge gaps, and potential areas for collaboration. These inputs will be synthesized into a set of focus themes and action points to guide future sessions of the Community of Practice.

Download Concept Note