Ecosystem Alliance: Learning Agenda progress in 2013
The Learning Agenda supports some of the EA’s major objectives and seeks to build skills and find
answers on strategies for change. With 3 major themes and 24 learning objectives it has offered a
basket of choices for partners to engage with according to their working priorities. Learning face-toface, still the most effective and welcomed method, most often is combined with joint strategizing of
the EA and its partners, to optimise resources and results. It has proven effective to combine training
and skill development, knowledge transfer, peer exchange and field visits.
The current chapter presents a selection of experiences and lessons from national and international
EA activities in 2013, arranged per theme. It also gives some examples of EA-initiated learning
activities most relevant for advocacy. Information sources used were (i) project progress reports
prepared by partners, which often also refer to learning at community level, (ii) country syntheses
based on these individual reports and on annual national partner meetings and (iii) reports on regional
or global EA learning events.
For a summary of our learning agenda objectives, see annex 71. Below, in the table 2.2 we
summarize progress on the major themes in a general way. More details of the 2013 international and
national level learning activities, their presentations, agendas and reports, can be found at our EA
website: www.ecosystem-alliance.org,through “Past Meetings”, “Countries”, or “Themes”.
Table 2.2 Progress on Learning themes.
Theme 1: Participatory resource
planning and management
So far, insights and skills improved
on many useful approaches.
Among them are: Negotiated and
Rights based Approaches,
Participatory land use mapping
and planning, Participatory
management of Non timber forest
1See
Theme 2: Monitoring and
implementing best standards &
controlling frontier
So far, insights and skills improved
on expansion and effects of the
agricultural frontier in Latin
America, political strategies on
palm oil expansion in Indonesia,
dispute settlement around
commodity schemes, and mining
Theme 3: Equitable
climate change mitigation
and adaptation
So far, insights and skills
improved on REDD +
carbon measurement and
project development
necessities, jurisdictional
approaches, as well as on
Ecosystem based
Annex 7 for a schematic overview of the EA learning agenda, with our 3 themes and learning objectives for
each target group (Communities, Southern partners and Alliance members).
products, Farmer Managed
Natural Regeneration, Hutan Desa
and CREMA.
advocacy. Also, insight improved
on the quality differences between
biofuel, palm oil and soy standards.
adaptation and disaster risk
reduction.
The up-scaling of approaches
Providing and translating evidence
(1.3), advocating for the
on expansion into effective policy
implementation of plans (1.10) and advocacy remains a challenge (2.2,
institutionalizing stakeholder
2.4, 2.7) as well as broader uptake
processes (1.11) appear to be
of good quality standards (2.1)
particular challenges still.
Major learning activities and results in 2013
More effort seems needed
to demonstrate the value of
ecosystem services in
climate adaptation (3.3-3.6).
Theme 1: Participatory planning and management of land and natural resource use
Participatory planning and management remains a central theme for the EA at project level. This
theme generates an interesting series of examples, given below.
Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration in West Africa
A regional EA workshop on “Building community resilience to climate change through FMNR in the
Sahel” (RNA in French) took place in Burkina Faso with twelve CSO partners from Burkina, Mali,
Benin and Niger. FMNR is an agroforestry technique to help accelerate regrowth of natural
vegetation while giving preference to those types of trees that fit farmers’ needs. FMNR has potential
for ‘Re-greening the Sahel’ in a relatively cheap and participatory way. To up-scale successful local
experiences FMNR ambassadors can come from grassroots networks, village committees and
producer associations, members of municipal councils or national parliaments, decision makers in
government agencies and extension officers from forestry and agriculture services.
Explanation of FMNR in Burkina Faso by Joseph Lumumba
Land Use Planning and Strategic Environmental Assessment in Kenya
In 2013, a joint field trip was organized to a focus area in Kenya, the Tana Delta. Partners actively
contributed with knowledge building to a combined strategic environmental assessment and land use
planning (SEA/LUP), which has become a model for other areas in the country.
Participatory land use mapping in Indonesia
In 2013 knowledge based advocacy led to the legal recognition of Hutan Desa (Village Forests), and
their uptake as a means to usefully invest REDD+ money in Jambi and West Sumatra. Participatory
mapping was further implemented by EA partners in Sumatra, Kalimantan and Papua and – as
elsewhere in the world- proves to be a valuable awareness raising and rights defence tool for
indigenous peoples. The government in for example Tebing Tinggi Island (Riau, Sumatra) stimulates
the mapping now to try and prevent conflict. An informative movie 2on community mapping in relation to
palm oil was published. The film was shown at RSPO Plenary opening in Medan; and was shown at
various other forums – including to the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Box 2.12 gives an example of
trans-boundary resource use planning in Southern part of South America called the Cono Sur.
2
http://vimeo.com/61715444
Theme 2: Improvement, promotion & monitoring of best standards & control of expansion in
agri-commodities and mining.
Filling the operational gap is a major hurdle in theme 2, referring to controlling the agricultural and
mining frontier, and implementing best quality control/certification in commodity value chains. It is
clear that the challenge of the learning theme 'how to contain the agricultural frontier' under market
pressure from the very lucrative soy and palm oil crops and extractives has no easy answer.
Box 2.12
Resource use planning and advocacy in Cono Sur
EA partners in the Cono Sur region know are
well connected making various trans
boundary resource planning and advocacy
activities possible. Partner were for example
trained on land-use planning, learning to
integrate climate change into the decisionmaking process and to establish permanent
local involvement by setting up local
associations. In Argentina, partners joined to
exchanged knowledge on development and
conflict in the Parana Delta and formulated a
series of recommendations to government.
In Brazil, local organizations in the Pantanal
acquired skills to more convincingly voice
their message and cooperate more
effectively through their Pantanal network,
which also included participants from
Paraguay and Bolivia. This helped, for
example, to develop a joint agenda in
relation to the establishment of river basin
committees with local governments,
opposing small hydro-electrical dams,
influencing fisheries regulations and facing
encroachment by soy and mining activities.
Young indigenous community members at a demonstration for the protection of the rivers they live
from, Matto Grosso, Brazil. Photo by Sander van Andel, 2013
Soy Observatory
In 2013 the Observatorio Socio Ambiental de la Soja (OSAS, the Soy Observatory), started in 2012,
was further developed. Five NGOs from Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina form the core
team, coordinated by Argentina and supported by a lead scientist. Mutual learning took place on soy
expansion developments and mapping and monitoring techniques that OSAS will use. Decisions were
made by OSAS for 100 environmental and social indicators that will be monitored in all 4 countries
and the top10 were selected to start with. OSAS partners will be invited to communicate their data
and messages directly to Dutch stakeholders and EA peers on palm oil and biofuels in autumn 2014.
Paraguay plays an important role in knowledge sharing and advocacy in the whole region by its
month-to-month monitoring of the huge deforestation of the Gran Chaco biome, in which cattle
ranching and soy play a major role. Identification of alarming cases in Protected Areas in Paraguay
and Argentina led to official investigation. A publication highlights the effects of soy on wetlands
drainage in Argentina, and in Brazil, research is under way on new soy expansion in the Pantanal
area. This combined with the EA’s pivotal role in the Dutch Soy Coalition as has been explained in
chapter 2.2.
RSPO
Indian NGOs were facilitated to participate in the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) process,
liaise with Indonesian NGOs, visit the field, and raise awareness about the palm oil issues in India (the
world’s largest palm oil consumer). A workshop was organised to build Indonesian NGO capacity to
partake in the RSPO National Interpretation process in Indonesia. A Conflict or Consent Workshop was
organized which enabled over 50 community and local CSO representatives to discuss experiences with
RSPO Dispute Settlement Facility and other grievance processes. As highlighted in chapter 2.2, this
should lead to more effective treatment of complaints and disputes over land- and other rights.
Best certification systems
The EA in 2013 sought to create some clarity in a jungle of claims about agri-commodity standards,
for which a special research project was designed for the EA and partners and many others to learn
from. An overview study of 10 benchmark studies on commodity standards meant for biofuels, soy
and palm oil called “Betting on best quality” 3. The studies point clearly to the qualitative superiority of
multi-stakeholder initiatives such as RSB, RSPO, and RTRS. The study has been promoted to other
Dutch and Latin American NGOs, the Soy Chain Transition players including retailers and EU staff
involved in the Renewable Energy Directive (relevant for the diesel part of the problem). We have
received enthusiastic reactions on its thoroughness from retailers and other players in the worldwide
consumer goods forum. The study is also used as a reference for defining “RTRS equivalence” by the
NGOs involved in Global Gap standard setting for soy in retail supply. Two EA policy proposals were
highlighted in the press, stressing the importance of keeping the standard high and at the same time
going beyond certification, also referring to the ‘Soy barometer’ produced by the Dutch Soy Coalition
(DSC).
Oil governance Uganda
In Uganda, the EA initiated and supported a “Great Lakes Oil Governance Conference” which
brought participants from 7 Great Lakes Countries and discussed governance of natural resources in
the region. The conference provided an excellent opportunity for EA partners to learn from each
3
https://cmsdata.iucn.org/downloads/betting_on_best_quality.pdf
other’s experiences on governance of specifically Uganda's oil sector but also learn of similar
experiences from Tanzania, Rwanda, DR Congo and Kenya.
Mining Philippines
In the Philippines, the “Indigenous Peoples Learning Exchange on Mining and Self Governance”
promoted learning and solidarity building among indigenous communities from northern and southern
Philippines on self-governance, environmental protection and defence of IP rights in relation to mining
threats. The project contributed to the mining advocacy of the EA-Philippines and strengthened local
campaigns. A 3-day awareness raising and advocacy training was organised with leaders and
stakeholders of the province of Misamis Occidental, on the Alternative Minerals Management Bill. The
training resulted in a local ordinance prohibiting mining, the formulation of an advocacy plan, and EA
partners urging of National Congress to enact the alternative minerals bill to replace the existing
Mining Act
Theme 3: Equitable climate change mitigation and ecosystem based adaptation.
How to safeguard biodiversity and ecosystems as well as social concerns in climate mitigation and
adaptation efforts? Capacity building is a central axis in the REDD+ and EbA work of the Alliance. We
refer to the thematic chapter on theme 3 for more detail on activities, but highlight a number of issues
here.
Mitigation, REDD +
The EA organised an exchange visit and workshop to a successful forest and climate finance (CDM)
project in Ethiopia (WVE). Participants were seven EA partners from Burkina Faso, Mali and Ghana.
They gathered all kinds of practical info in order to set up and implement similar climate finance
projects in their countries. In a follow up training they were taught practical skills about terrestrial
carbon accounting, carbon project development and implementation, and benefit sharing issues. In
Burkina, two partners have developed projects afterwards; as did one in Mali. In Ghana, the training in
Ethiopia created insights on how to bridge the gaps between plans and their implementation and
moving from site projects to jurisdictional approaches and a proposal along these lines is being
prepared.
One partner received direct support from the EA for exchange visits to the Philippines and Carbon
Accounting training in University of California, San Diego. They have been empowered to engage
effectively in national discussions on redefining the forest under the REDD+ strategy, so the woodland
savannah land regions of Ghana can adequately be financially supported to address deforestation
and degradation. Training given by the newly capacitated partners to assembly members and heads
of departments on climate change, mitigation and adaptation mechanisms created new thinking and
concern for climate change issues and incorporation into district biodiversity planning processes.
Ecosystem-based adaptation
20 partner CSOs from South East Asia and 20 from Africa (French-speaking EA countries of West &
Central Africa) were trained on EbA during two regional meetings organised in the Philippines and Benin
respectively.
As an effect of the national & regional workshops on EbA in Manila, Philippines, an EA partner started
integrating an Ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction approach in their work in the Dioyo Basin,
Mindanao. An EA partner and the government will establish a provincial Biodiversity & Climate
Change Learning Centre; partly inspired by a showcase on EbA in coastal/fisheries. Several partners
did Climate Change Vulnerability Assessments (VAs) in their areas and started integrating EbA
approaches in their field projects and lobbying for funds.
Last year, detailed information was shared on the relatively high climate vulnerability and resilience of
the Gran Chaco (Paraguay/Bolivia/Argentina).The Gran Chaco is one of the largest and most
threatened biomes in Latin America, where deforestation is so huge it probably provokes (extra)
heavy droughts. In September 2013 EA co-supported the “II Encuentro Mundial del Gran Chaco
Americano” in Buenos Aires. Partners from the Chaco countries and Brazil were there at the largest
knowledge exchange and network event of the region, and organized knowledge events among
others on climate adaptation. An important outcome was that an EA partner from Bolivia, who had
mobilized many municipalities to come over, helped create a regional alliance of municipalities for
climate adaptation in the Chaco and was able to support some Argentina municipalities in their
climate adaptation plans.
In Benin, where the regional EbA training was held, an analysis was conducted of the adaptation
strategies by local communities and tests have been done with farmers on varieties of food crops that
are more resilient to climate variation. All EA partners in the country actively address climate change
issues in their awareness raising activities with local communities.
Conclusions and reflections Learning Agenda

Good progress was made on all themes, although it may still be too early to confirm that “end
goals in skill building” or “final answers” will be attained by learning activities in 2015.
Learning, especially advocacy-focused learning is an adaptive process in a variety of
changing contexts, which makes it so important to build learning organisations.

What can be observed in 2013 is that EA investments in NGO knowledge building and
exchange are translated into to strengthened policy advocacy. We see this, for example, on
the topic of community based forest management in Ghana or Indonesia, monitoring of
agricultural expansion in the Chaco or Parana Delta, REDD+ policy and projects in Burkina
and Mali and mining regulations in the Philippines and Uganda. EbA seems most difficult in
terms of knowledge and partner capacity building and commodity governance is probably the
most challenging in terms of learning to effectuate change in the field.