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The historic Brazzaville Declaration was signed by the Congo Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo and Indonesia and establishes a foundation for cooperation on planned agriculture, oil and gas mining, and logging projects in the Cuvette Centrale region, the world’s largest tropical peatland. GLF/CIFOR are part of the Global Peatlands Initiative, which helped forge the deal. The Cuvette Centrale peatland was recently mapped by an international team of scientists, and findings were detailed in the 2017 “Smoke on Water” report released at the Global Landscapes Forum conference in December in Bonn, Germany.

The AFR100 is a pan-African, country-led restoration effort to bring 100 million hectares of degraded landscapes in Africa under restoration by 2030.

Australia, Indonesia, and Costa Rica, along with GRID-Arendal, the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Program (SPREP), the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat and Office of the Pacific Oceanscape Commissioner, the Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and the Global Change Institute, launched the Blue Carbon Initiative (with Conservation International, IUCN, Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission – UNESCO) at the 2015 Global Landscapes Forum in Paris. The Partnership brought together collaborative cross-sectoral partners to share knowledge and accelerate action regarding coastal blue carbon ecosystems.

The Africa Palm Oil Initiative (APOI) brought together nine Central and West African governments, as well as the private sector, civil society and indigenous and local peoples groups, in a commitment to make this key industry sustainable and responsible. The initiative was launched at an important moment in the development of the palm oil industry in the region, as it is on the verge of becoming a net exporter. High-level representatives of the nine governments met in Marrakesh to sign the pledge, which aims to be a sustainable driver of long-term, low-carbon development in a manner that is socially beneficial and protects tropical forests. The countries concerned are: Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Republic of Congo and Sierra Leone. The APOI was the first major initiative of the Tropical Forest Alliance, a global public-private partnership set up in 2012 that aims to reduce deforestation linked to key global commodities.

Launched at the 2016 Global Landscapes Forum in Marrakesh, this is a new UN Environment-led multi-partner effort to save peatlands- which store the largest quantity of carbon stocks of any ecosystem.

The Tropical Landscapes Financing Facility (TLFF) was launched at the Forum in Marrakesh in 2016. TLFF uses a novel structure, leveraging public funding to provide access to long-term finance at affordable rates to support smallholder producers, renewable energy production and other land users’ investment in sustainable Indonesian landscapes.

The Youth in Landscapes (YIL) Initiative is a growing global network and movement of over 60,000 young people ages 18-35 working and studying in landscapes around the world. The Initiative is a partnership between the International Forestry Students’ Association (IFSA), Young Professionals for Agricultural Development (YPARD), the Global Agroecology Alliance (GAEA) and Youth 4 Nature (Y4N). The young leaders from these organizations have joined forces to deliver workshops, mentorship, training and networking to students and young professionals in landscapes around the world. 

Whether online or in person, YIL programs connect, support, and inspire young people to step into courageous leadership. 

The GLF has been named an official core partner in preparation for the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, 2021-2030. The Decade is conceived as a global movement that can achieve the mission of ending ecosystem degradation by harnessing the power of nature and local communities. In addition to informing the Strategy, the GLF serves as a key partner in knowledge management and a critical intermediary between grassroots restoration action, Decade partners, and leading organizations. The new GLFx initiative will bridge local voices to global agendas and catalyze restoration action across the world. The GLF, alongside the Youth in Landscapes Initiative (YIL), has also developed the Generation Restoration campaign and Restoration Steward program to ensure youth leadership in restoration.

In cooperation with charter members IPMG and RRI, GLF in 2019 launched the “gold standard”, a set of best practices for protecting the rights of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities, to be endorsed by organizations and governments worldwide. Institutions endorsing this “gold standard” commit to integrating safeguards, co-created by rights holders through global participatory consultations, that transfer decision-making over lands, territories, and resources to Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities, particularly women.

The GLF conference that was held alongside COP20 in Lima in 2014 saw the launch of Initiative 20x20, through which countries and regional programs across Latin America and the Caribbean have committed to protecting and restoring over 50 million hectares of degraded land by 2030.

GLF contributes to strategic knowledge management and communications in the Food Systems, Land Use and Restoration (FOLUR) Global Knowledge to Action Platform, which is led by the World Bank and forms part of its Impact Program on the same topic. Based on the growing recognition that food production systems and land use must improve for the health of people, planet and economies, the platform aims to promote sustainable integrated landscapes and efficient food value chains at scale.

The center of GLF's learning activities, the Landscape Academy is the hub for landscape learning and training, offering online and in-person learning opportunities. The Landscape Academy is a collaboration between GLF, Wageningen University and Research and the UN Environment Programme, as well as GLF partners, schools and universities across the world. Its aim is to enhance the skills  of young, current and future professionals in landscape approaches, restoration and governance. As of 2021, over 18,000 learners have enrolled in the GLF-led Sustainable and Inclusive Landscapes certificate program, including online courses on landscape leadership, landscape governance, landscape finance, climate action, and biodiverse landscapes.

The GLF Investment Case has become one of the top sustainable finance forums globally, providing a regular convening space for a powerful community of leading sustainable financial actors that review and launch new innovative strategies for land-based investments. 1,800 participants were selected to participate in person at the first four Investment Case events in London (2015, 2016), Washington D.C. (2018) and Luxembourg (2019), while thousands more tuned in virtually via live-stream. These events saw the launch of multiple major sustainable finance innovations, including the Tropical Landscapes Financing Facility (TLFF) in Indonesia and the Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) Fund.

Thirty-five of the world’s leading development, environmental, farmer, rights and research organizations currently serve as GLF Charter Members. Each of these organizations has signed the GLF Charter, and shares a strong commitment to the vision of advancing, mainstreaming and implementing the Landscape Approach to building landscapes that are productive, prosperous, equitable and resilient.

The Luxembourg-GLF Finance for Nature Platform aims to shift financial flows towards sustainable land-use models that are sustainable, equitable, inclusive and profitable. To achieve this vision, the Government of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and the GLF are joining forces to 

• share knowledge on existing innovations and continuously build relevant (new) solutions, 
• enhance mainstreaming of sustainable finance for nature-based solutions, and 
• catalyze private sector engagement in sustainable land use financing.