Productive Landscapes (ProLand) Ninth Biannual Progress Report (October 1, 2018-March 31, 2019)

It is implemented by Tetra Tech in association with two subcontractors, World Resources Institute (WRI) and ACDI/VOCA. The project is currently managed by the Office of Global Climate Change (GCC) in the Bureau of Economic Growth, Education, and the Environment (E3). The purpose of the ProLand project is to provide assistance to USAID to catalyze change in land management systems so that people and institutions in developing countries can make informed, actionable, and effective development decisions. The goal of this task order is to develop tools and evidence to demonstrate that by sustainably intensifying land uses with best management practices, it is possible to achieve multiple gains simultaneously, including increased food production, reduced biodiversity loss, reduced greenhouse gas emissions, enhanced adaptation to climate changes, and increased inclusive broad-based economic growth. The specific objectives of the project are to demonstrate by the end of the contract that multiple benefits from sustainable intensification have been achieved using best management approaches that: increase agricultural production while also increasing carbon sequestration above and/or below ground on farming and grazing lands; increase biodiversity, for instance by reducing deforestation rates, increasing natural forests and rangelands, providing ecologically sustainable benefits to local communities, and enhancing ecosystem services; and increase resilience of rural household livelihoods to climate change via increased rainwater capture/groundwater infiltration, diversification and integration of farm production systems, enhanced ecosystem service provision, and greater adoption of community-based natural resource management governance structures. The specific tasks to be undertaken in support of these objectives include: improving the evidence from existing successes by documenting and disseminating data and success stories relevant to integrated climate change, biodiversity, food security, and natural resources management programs for increased landscape productivity and resilience; developing a Nature, Wealth, and Power (NWP) toolbox of methodologies and best practices for increasing landscape productivity and resilience; preparing the future evidence base for new success stories in productive landscapes management in programs under design in sites selected collaboratively with one to three key USAID Missions; and implementing a program of work to support the uptake of community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) best practices. During the October 2018 to March 2019 reporting period, ProLand made significant progress in developing global assessments around three promising landscape productivity enhancement approaches: sustainable agricultural intensification (SI), sustainable woodfuel production systems, and community-based forestry enterprises (CBFEs). The team developed a working paper on sustainable agricultural intensification that highlights common intensification strategies of improved technology and practice, as well as governance approaches that aim to reduce the conversion of natural lands via incentive mechanisms and multi-institutional planning and policy. ProLand also completed a revised draft of the SI working paper and shared it with USAID for review. In addition, ProLand assessed the experience gained in programs designed to increase woodfuel production in the developing world and developed 2-4 case studies around successful examples of improved sustainability of the supply of woodfuel to urban markets. The studies explored, illustrated, and updated conclusions drawn from the literature related to the hypothesis that increased woodfuel demand from urban population growth is driving deforestation and degradation. ProLand also made progress in existing and new activity development to support GCC SL programming, a newly initiated activity supporting the USAID Guatemala Mission, and achievements related to outreach and uptake. The team will continue to develop case studies and assessments in the next reporting period to support the objectives of the ProLand project.