Humanity stands at an unprecedented crossroads as the health of our planet teeters on the edge. Unsustainable land use and resource mismanagement are accelerating environmental degradation and biodiversity loss, with dire consequences—millions are driven into food insecurity, economic hardship, and conflicts over diminishing natural resources. Despite the interconnected nature of these global crises - threatening local communities, global   ecosystem stability and jeopardizing the systems essential to life itself- responses often remain fragmented, scattered and siloed. Yet, within these challenges lies great opportunities for collectively action to tackle challenges at scale.

We can collectively strive toward a shared vision of thriving populations in landscapes that are healthy, productive, biodiverse, resilient, low-emission, and equitable—truly multifunctional in every sense. This vision weaves together global agendas and initiatives, aligning efforts for the common good. This holistic perspective aligns directly with the goals of the Rio Conventions and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), enabling the integrated management of landscapes to achieve multiple outcomes, from arresting land degradation to food security to climate resilience and biodiversity conservation.

Passing that ideal vision into practice is possible and is already happening worldwide. However, achieving impact at the necessary pace and scale requires learning from past experiences, which reveal systemic barriers—most notably, the lack of sustained and adequate funding to support the processes that enable landscapes and their communities to transition toward multifunctionality. Development and sustainability efforts are often dominated by short-term, techno-centric funding approaches. While these approaches have their value, their limited ability to address complex, interconnected, and multi-level challenges—while also delivering lasting impact—underscores the need for more holistic and innovative financial mechanisms tailored to the needs of multifunctional landscapes. Bridging the financing gap is critical to realizing the full potential of multifunctional landscapes.

In this interactive session with policymakers, researchers, and practitioners, we aim o explore the multifaceted benefits of multifunctional landscapes, the challenges of securing sustainable financing and fostering effective collaboration while identifying innovative and just financing opportunities.