FLOURISH

Production-driven forest landscape restoration under REDD+ through private sector – community partnerships as Asian regional learning exchange (FLOURISH)

- a project of the International Climate Initiative (IKI) of the German Government

- funded by the German Federal Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU)

Duration: May 2018 until April 2022

In recent decades, the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) has experienced a tremendous expansion of extractive industries and commercialized agriculture, driving economic growth at high ecological and social costs. The resulting degradation of forest ecosystems puts landscapes and forest-dependent communities under pressure, and increases their vulnerability to the adverse effects of climate change. At the same time, greenhouse gas emissions from forest degradation have been identified as a main driver of anthropogenic climate change in the GMS. The FLOURISH project addresses these interconnected problems and aims at enhancing mitigation and adaptation potential of forests through the promotion of sustainable forest landscape restoration (FLR) pathways in selected forested landscapes in Laos, Thailand and Viet Nam.

FLR is an integrative, holistic concept that recognizes the multifunctionality of landscapes and the associated diversity of stakeholders. As such FLR looks for synergies based on which ecological integrity, local development, adaptive capacity and climate mitigation can be enhanced at the landscape level. Stakeholder participation and partnerships among communities, entrepreneurs, local governments and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are vital to create enabling environments and leverage investment for forest restoration. FLOURISH therefore is piloting innovative and locally appropriate business models between communities and the private sector.

The FLOURISH project is managed by the Center for People and Forests (RECOFTC) with the implementing partners of the Institute of International Forestry and Forest Products of Technische Universität Dresden (TUD), the International Network of Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR) based in Beijing, and Nan Community College (NCC) based in Thailand. The Institute of International Forestry and Forest Products will implement the research component of the FLOURISH project. For this a research coordinator came on board and a doctoral student from Vietnam will research on FLR, together with several master students.