CATIE, the Model Forest Network, and Ecoagriculture Partners will strengthen landscape governance in Latin America

• Their goal is to enhance the capabilities of the 34 intersectoral landscape governance platforms known as Model Forests, in 14 Latin American countries

CATIE (Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center) participated in Brazil in the face-to-face delivery of the first phase of a virtual course at the Latin American level aimed at strengthening landscape and forest governance in the region.

This is the training course: Integrated Landscape Management and Financing: Strengthening Landscape Leaders in Latin America. It will take place from March 2024 to May 2025, in monthly, virtual, synchronous sessions, via Zoom.

The landscape governance enhancement course arises from the collaboration between CATIE, the Latin American Model Forest Network, and Ecoagriculture Partners' "1000 Landscapes for One Billion People" initiative. The course is part of the Climate project of the Government of Canada, of which CATIE and Ecoagriculture Partners are co-implementers.

It aims to enhance the capacities of the 34 cross-sectoral landscape governance platforms known as Model Forests, distributed across 14 countries in Latin America, although the course will focus on 15 of these platforms.

The initial workshop was held in the week of March 19 to 22 in person with the active participation of 57 people, in the territory of one of the most recent Model Forest platforms: the Pantanal Model Forest, located in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, with complex management, degradation, and restoration challenges.

This locality, characterized by its ecological importance and inherent management challenges, offers an ideal environment for the exchange of knowledge and experiences.

CATIE was represented by Fernando Carrera, Roger Villalobos, and Max Yamauchi Mansur, an Eco Agriculture Partners staff member based on campus in Turrialba, Costa Rica.

The focus of the entire training process is on the comprehensive management of the forest landscape, to capitalize on the vast experience accumulated over the years by these platforms. These initiatives have generated a wide range of productive, conservation, environmental restoration, and human development projects.