Descriptions

Landscapes tend to operate substantially below their potential ('production possibility frontier'). It is this 'multi-functionality gap' that Forests, Trees and Agroforestry Flagship 4 addresses. The project supports negotiations of multi-functionality at landscape scale within a Sustainable Development Goal framework. It does so by combining observations of changes in forest cover, land use and the presence of trees on farms with consequent changes in the provision of ecosystem services (provisioning, regulatory, cultural, supportive/regenerative). It facilitates the search for alternatives, design of policy instruments to nudge decision makers toward reduced externalities, scenario evaluation and multistakeholder platforms for agreeing on changes to close the multi-functionality gap. Exploration of the concepts and principles goes hand-in-hand with action research to achieve change in complex contexts. Through this, we aim for Multifunctional landscapes with trees, agroforestry and forests to be managed on the interface of public and private sector actors and to meet the SDGs of their inhabitants and external stakeholders