A 1000 Landscapes for 1 Billion People Executive Roundtable
Date: November 18, 2021
Time: 08:30 ET/14:30 CET/19:00 IST
Meeting business goals through landscape partnerships
Environmental degradation, climate change and social needs of communities are spurring agribusiness companies to find ways to future-proof their supply chains. They are finding that site-level and supply chain approaches to these challenges cannot, alone, mitigate all of the associated business risks or generate desired social and environmental benefits. Business strategy requires considering and influencing actions of other stakeholders in the landscape.
Landscape partnerships can address these critical gaps in sustainability planning and supply chain management. Through such partnerships, stakeholders in a landscape work to reconcile competing social, economic and environmental objectives. Landscape partnerships are typically championed by those with a direct and long-term stake and responsibilities for resource stewardship in a landscape, such as farming communities, local businesses and governments.
A growing number of international companies are participating in these collaboratives, seeing that their long-term business success is tied to healthy communities and ecosystems. These businesses anticipate benefits not only for risk reduction but also cost savings, resource mobilization, market differentiation, joint policy advocacy, and improving social and environmental stability.
A survey in 2013-2015 of 420 large-scale landscape partnerships worldwide found that about 25% included business members. Since then, business interest has proliferated, facilitated by groups such as the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, the Global Agribusiness Alliance, Tropical Forest Alliance, numerous NGOs collaborating with businesses and inter-governmental processes.
Helping businesses to engage effectively with landscape partnerships
Experience shows that businesses must look beyond their fence lines to take advantage of landscape-level efficiencies and opportunities. They need to invest in analyzing business benefits and trade-offs of working at a landscape scale in specific sourcing regions. Company staff should learn how to engage with landscape partnerships. They may need to engage more directly with smallholder farmers and small and medium-sized enterprises in their supply chains. Businesses just beginning this work can benefit significantly from early leaders in this space willing to share what they have learned.
The 1000 Landscapes for 1 Billion People initiative (1000L) is a radical collaboration of dozens of organizations worldwide committed to strengthening landscape partnerships through information technology, capacity development, finance mobilization and a global network (www.landscapes.global). 1000L recognizes the importance of collaborating with businesses to achieve sustainable landscapes.
This executive roundtable, organized by 1000L collaborators EcoAgriculture Partners, Rainforest Alliance, and the Laudes Foundation, offers an introduction to the practice of integrated landscape management (ILM) for business leaders. ILM experts and business peers will take stock of the current situation and build on it through knowledge sharing and discussion. We expect that this critical work will continue to grow within the 1000L network after the roundtable.
Roundtable objectives
Through the event, we hope that business leaders will:
Participants
Roundtable will include around 20 participants from firms working with 1000L partners, including:
Click here for a list of participants.
Click here for participant bios.
Registration
For questions, contact Seth Shames at sshames@ecoagriculture.org or Edward Millard at emillard@ra.org.
Agenda
The 90-minute roundtable will take place on November 18 beginning at 08:30 ET/14:30 CET/19:00 IST. It will be conducted in English.
8:30 am—Zoom open, check connections
Zoom will be open for informal exchanges and to make sure technology is working well
8.45 am—Welcome, overview and participant introductions
Facilitator: Seth Shames, EcoAgriculture Partners
9:00 am—Experience of business in landscape partnerships
9:30 am—Group Discussion
Facilitator: Edward Millard, Rainforest Alliance
10:15 am—Collaborative Action: How could 1000 Landscapes help companies working in landscape partnerships?
Facilitator: Sara J. Scherr, EcoAgriculture Partners
10:25 am—Wrap up/next steps
Moderator: Seth Shames, EcoAgriculture Partners
10:30 am—Close roundtable
Pre-Meeting: Background Materials
Before the roundtable, participants will be provided optional background materials, including:
Event Details
