Microsoft Word - GLF-brief-MD-layout.docx

This briefing summarizes a dialogue session hosted by SIANI and EcoAdapt on 7 December 2014 as part of the Global Landscapes Forum. The session focused on governance strategies for 'frontier landscapes'—remote areas characterized by high rates of forest clearance, land use change, and social fluidity—to foster sustainability and connect bottom-up solutions with top-down policies.

• Frontier landscapes are defined as remote regions experiencing rapid forest clearance, land use change, and high social and economic fluidity, involving a diverse range of actors from large-scale agri-business and mining operations to subsistence farmers.
• There is a limited window of opportunity to engage stakeholders for sustainability in frontier landscapes; failure to act quickly may worsen power imbalances as land tenure systems consolidate. A primary challenge is building social capital at a pace that exceeds the degradation of natural assets and ecosystems.
• Efforts to reduce emissions and govern landscapes sustainably require prior investment in institutional capacity. Without strong and legitimate institutions, incentives for land use change may fail in the long term and could increase the vulnerability and inequality of low-income smallholders and subsistence farmers.
• Establishing common ground through shared concerns—such as education, health, or water security—is a vital first step in addressing environmental degradation. Multi-stakeholder institutions are necessary to provide spaces for trust-building, knowledge exchange, and the identification of shared values.
• Long-term persistence and scalability of local initiatives require political support and clear regulatory frameworks. The Peruvian government's creation of a Ministry of Development and Social Inclusion is cited as a step toward aligning national policies with local realities.
• Civil society organizations act as key agents for stakeholder participation, but their long-term success depends on five factors: regional legitimacy, proactive capacity building for local actors, flexibility to local conditions, integration of Western and indigenous knowledge, and a clear exit strategy.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (n.d.). Microsoft Word - GLF-brief-MD-layout.docx. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Events/GLF-Frontier-landscapes-summary.pdf

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. Microsoft Word - GLF-brief-MD-layout.docx. n.d. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Events/GLF-Frontier-landscapes-summary.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=Microsoft Word - GLF-brief-MD-layout.docx |url=https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Events/GLF-Frontier-landscapes-summary.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitutendmicrosoft, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{Microsoft Word - GLF-brief-MD-layout.docx}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, url = {https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Events/GLF-Frontier-landscapes-summary.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }