(BONN, 11 May 2021) Based on current development trajectories, our global community is a long way off-track to meeting the Paris Agreement aspiration of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees centigrade compared to pre-industrial levels.
In that context, the TMG – Töpfer, Müller, Gaßner – Think Tank for Sustainability (TMG) is seeking to strengthen its contribution to the broad-based alliances for change that are critically needed to transform current unequal and unsustainable development pathways – by becoming a Global Landscapes Forum (GLF) charter member.
TMG is devoted to exploring what is needed to transform governance at different levels towards more sustainable pathways, with a focus on sustainable transitions in the agrifood, climate, and natural resource management sectors.
“At the heart of our work as a think tank is connecting the dots between soil restoration and land governance,” said Alexander Müller, TMG’s founder and managing director. “In doing so, we also have to reconsider how institutions at the national and global levels can contribute to meaningful change. This often requires changing the way they work in order to allow transformation to happen.”
Müller highlighted the importance of equitable development and land tenure rights in attending to global social and environmental priorities such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). “We cannot achieve any of the Sustainable Development Goals without examining who will gain and who will lose from proposed solutions,” he said. “Human rights – and especially the right to land – is a prerequisite for achieving many of the Global Goals.”
TMG brings together two organizations: the non-profit transdisciplinary research organisation TMG Research GmbH, and its policy consultancy arm, TMG – Töpfer Müller Gaßner GmbH. It contributes to diverse networks, including Think Sustainable Europe; the Transformative Partnership Platform (TPP); and the Partnership for Regional Ocean Governance.
The new membership, Müller believes, will contribute significantly to the reach and impact of both organizations, particularly in terms of helping meet the goals of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030). “[The Decade] can only be really successful if we strengthen linkages at different levels: between the global and local; and between science and the enabling policy environment for driving action at the requisite scale,” he said.
In becoming a Charter Member, TMG joins 31 of the world’s leading development, environmental, farmer, rights and research organizations, who have signed the GLF Charter and are committed to the vision of advancing, mainstreaming and implementing the ‘Landscape Approach’ to building landscapes that are productive, prosperous, equitable and resilient.
And TMG is wasting no time in making the most of its membership to spread the word about successful sustainable development pathways: at the upcoming GLF Africa conference in June this year, the organization will host a session on community-led soil and land restoration that creates tangible benefits for ecosystems and communities.
For more information, please contact GLF Communications Coordinator, Melissa Kaye Angel (M.KayeAngel@cgiar.org) or TMG Senior Communications Associate, Wangu Mwangi Wangu.Mwangi@tmg-thinktank.com
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