Making it happen: Motivating and enabling forest restoration and regeneration
Application deadline: 1 July, 2015
The NSF-funded Tropical Reforestation Research Coordination Network, PARTNERS, is sponsoring a 4-day workshop in Storrs, Connecticut, USA. PARTNERS brings natural and social scientists together to address the complexity of socio-ecological processes that shape tropical reforestation. Twenty-four participants will be invited to the workshop. There will be no cost for participation in the workshop or for travel, lodging, or meals. The workshop will be held October 21-24, 2015 at the University of Connecticut. Participants will stay at the Nathan Hale Inn (double occupancy) and our meetings will be held at the Center for Environmental Studies and Engineering (CESE).
The workshop will focus on applying and synthesizing existing knowledge to expand, enhance, and scale-up forest restoration and regeneration across the tropical world. We will also discuss ways to make restoration an economically viable choice for land use. As with our first workshop, we invite participation by senior researchers, early career researchers, organizational partners, and policy makers. We also invite participation of members of the private sector who are involved in promoting forest restoration through a variety of business ventures.
Two central issues will be discussed in plenary sessions, and will potentially be developed into white papers or freely available documents:
- Economic incentives for promoting forest regeneration and restoration (PES)
- The PARTNERS guide to best practices for socially and ecologically responsible forest restoration
In addition to discussing the results of the five working groups initiated during the May 2014 workshop, four new working groups will meet and define synthesis projects:
1) Promoting natural regeneration
- How to identify priority areas for natural regeneration
- Economic incentives/PES for natural regeneration
- Quantifying ecosystem services
- How does natural regeneration link to livelihoods, traditional knowledge, and cultural practices?
2) Governance and land rights
- Legal frameworks for restoration and natural regeneration
- Land reform and land rights
- Land grabbing
- Management and benefits of restoration
3) Restoration value chains
- Market incentives for products and practices
- Risks of commodification
- Safeguards and considerations for certification
4) Corporate responsibility for restoration
- Making restoration attractive as a corporate activity/investment
- Linking corporations, scientists, and NGOs
- Public-private partnerships
To apply for the workshop, please send a detailed CV and a cover letter addressing the following points:
- Your training and background;
- What you can bring to the workshop (data sets, unique perspectives and experiences, contacts);
- The working group you prefer to participate in (1-4)
- Availability of outside funds for your participation (will allow us to increase the number of participants)
Please e-mail these materials no later than 1 July, 2015 to [email protected]
For more information on the PARTNERS project visit: https://partners-rcn.org
Questions? Write to [email protected]
