ACHIEVING CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION THROUGH INTEGRATED LANDSCAPE MANAGEMENT

This research paper, commissioned by the Global Commission on Adaptation, argues that Integrated Landscape Management (ILM) is a critical mechanism for achieving climate change adaptation by coordinating agriculture, forests, water, biodiversity, and energy sectors. It details the limitations of siloed sectoral approaches and proposes a framework for multi-stakeholder coordination, strategic planning, and integrated investment to build organizational and ecological resilience.

• Siloed sectoral approaches to climate change adaptation often lead to conflicts, missed synergies, and limited scalability because government administrations, NGOs, and businesses are typically organized by sector or jurisdiction rather than by the ecological boundaries of the landscape.
• Integrated Landscape Management (ILM) is defined as a process where multiple stakeholders across sectors work together to manage natural resources sustainably at a landscape scale, which typically ranges from 100 to 10,000 km2.
• Effective ILM initiatives are characterized by five key elements: institutions for multi-stakeholder coordination, structured cross-sector landscape analysis and planning, interventions designed for synergies, aligned public policies, and coordinated landscape investment portfolios.
• A survey of 428 landscape partnerships in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, South and Southeast Asia, and Europe found that climate change mitigation and adaptation were important motivations for 64.7% of initiatives, and reducing vulnerability to extreme events was a motivation for 67.5%.
• The Imarisha Naivasha initiative in Kenya's Lake Naivasha Basin serves as a case study for ILM, having achieved results such as the protection of 70 kilometers of riparian zone, the planting of over 150,000 trees, and the rehabilitation of a sewage treatment plant to build watershed resilience.
• To enhance ecological resilience, landscapes require high diversity in land cover, land use, and species, which cushions communities from climatic shocks and provides 'famine foods' like wild greens and tree fruits during adverse conditions.
• The authors recommend that the Global Commission on Adaptation catalyze actions to strengthen ILM platforms, improve inter-agency planning, mobilize the private sector, and build research systems that move beyond siloed crop- or resource-specific research.
• Business engagement is critical for ILM but currently underrepresented; only a quarter of the 428 documented multi-stakeholder landscape partnerships involved private companies.

APA

Shames, S., & Scherr, S. J. (2019). ACHIEVING CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION THROUGH INTEGRATED LANDSCAPE MANAGEMENT. World Resources Institute. https://files.wri.org/s3fs-public/uploads/Climate_Adaptation_Through_Integrated_Landscape_Management_Paper_-_Global_Commission_on_Adaptation.pdf

Chicago

Shames, Seth, and Sara J. Scherr. ACHIEVING CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION THROUGH INTEGRATED LANDSCAPE MANAGEMENT. World Resources Institute, 2019. https://files.wri.org/s3fs-public/uploads/Climate_Adaptation_Through_Integrated_Landscape_Management_Paper_-_Global_Commission_on_Adaptation.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Shames |first1=Seth |last2=Scherr |first2=Sara J. |title=ACHIEVING CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION THROUGH INTEGRATED LANDSCAPE MANAGEMENT |publisher=World Resources Institute |date=2 September 2019 |url=https://files.wri.org/s3fs-public/uploads/Climate_Adaptation_Through_Integrated_Landscape_Management_Paper_-_Global_Commission_on_Adaptation.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{shames2019achieving, author = {Shames, Seth and Scherr, Sara J.}, title = {{ACHIEVING CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION THROUGH INTEGRATED LANDSCAPE MANAGEMENT}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, year = {2019}, month = sep, url = {https://files.wri.org/s3fs-public/uploads/Climate_Adaptation_Through_Integrated_Landscape_Management_Paper_-_Global_Commission_on_Adaptation.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }