Value chains to support Forest and Landscape restoration
The LoCoFoRest programme assumes that Forest and Landscape Restoration, FLR, can only be scalable and sustainable if the restoration and management of trees and forests becomes an attractive land use alternative for the local community. Long-term, attractive income opportunities from trees and forests in rural landscapes are therefore key for successful FLR.
Experiences from ongoing and finalized projects show how FLR based on traditional business models are difficult to make financially viable – especially for local farmers and communities. For example, cash-flow challenges can be preventive even when long-term income from the restored forest landscape will be high.
The LoCoFoRest programme will explore, and critically discuss, how new business models and competitive value chains that support FLR can be developed, based on:
- new models for Restorative Forest Management,
- new Products and new Markets and
- a new and better integrated value chain – from the forest to the final customer.
As every situation is unique, the LoCoFoRest programme is unable to offer a ‘package deal’ with guaranteed solutions. But, based on Swedish and international experiences, we can present and discuss a tried and tested ‘road-map’, supported by real-life examples, showing how new and competitive value chains, that support FLR, can be built in different contexts.
We will explore new technologies relevant for local entrepreneurship in a rural setting and of supply based on delivery from many smallholders. We will also present the ‘integrated approach’ - where knowledge about the specific needs of the market, is combined with an in-depth knowledge of what qualities and properties the forest can offer without hampering ES (both products and services). This blended knowledge approach can help to create new and profitable value chains, which can secure income and ES alike.
Figure above. One of the major challenges for small scale rural entrepreneurship is to secure both high quality and low costs. Today small-scale modern machinery, scalable in parallel lines, can offer a competitive alternative. Photo courtesy bay Eco-Innovation Foundation