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Long-term partnerships benefit research on tree genetic resources


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The work on the African Orphan Crops Consortium includes partners such as Mars. Photo: Cathy Watson/ICRAF
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unknownIn the next phase starting in 2017, the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry (FTA) will feature a new Flagship 1: Tree genetic resources to bridge production gaps and promote resilience. It includes elements of what is now Flagship 2 Management and conservation of forest and tree resources, coordinated by Laura Snook of Bioversity International. Before the start of Phase II, Ramni Jamnadass, Co-Leader, Tree Diversity, Domestication and Delivery at the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) and Coordinator t of the future Flagship 1 reflects on the most important partnerships within her research area. Read more on partnerships here.

Tree genetic resources are crucial for productive and sustainable landscapes, but this importance is not yet universally recognized. Research in this area lacks coordination and appropriate investment; quality planting material needs to be developed and promoted more effectively for socio-economic and environmental benefits. Currently the tools and approaches to achieve this are inadequate.

One example of a fruitful partnership.
One example of a fruitful partnership.

With the restructuring of the Flagships, activities on safeguarding genetic diversity, domestication and delivery of planting material will be subsumed under a single Flagship. We’ll bring together work that was previously dispersed across different components of FTA. Key strategic partners in the new Flagship are ICRAF, Bioversity International (who previously led the Flagship) and the University of Copenhagen.

Like the other Flagships, we have partnerships with a range of advanced research institutions in Europe (such as the James Hutton Institute), America (such as the University of California, Davis) and elsewhere.

Noteworthy is the training program for 250 African plant breeders set up with the University of California, Davis, which sits under the partnership with the African Orphan Crops Consortium.

The work on the African Orphan Crops Consortium includes partners such as Mars. Photo: Cathy Watson/ICRAF
The work on the African Orphan Crops Consortium includes partners such as Mars. Photo: Cathy Watson/ICRAF

Recently, the University of New Hampshire has come on board, and we have been approached by Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) that wants to expand their international work on orphan crops.

In terms of international organizations, we also a have very fruitful collaboration with the UN Food and Agricultural Organization, on a range of initiatives such as the State of the World’s Forest Genetic Resources. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has been a really good partner.

There are some evolving partnerships, which will depend on mutual expectations and if we can meet each other’s, but it’s not at all about money. One such new partnership is with the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR) where synergies exist within work on best approaches for germplasm improvement and delivery. INBAR will be a managing partner in the next phase of FTA.


Also read: Seeing the trees as well as the forest: the importance of managing forest genetic resources


I want to also highlight partnerships with the private sector, for example with Mars, Unilever, and Natura. The partnership with Mars is both upstream, on genomics to support breeding work under the African Orphan Crops Consortium; and downstream, on cocoa farm upgrading through the use of improved planting material in Cote d’Ivoire.

The engagement with Unilever has grown over almost 12 years. Such work has established a pathway for difficult species where there’s been no investment previously but where potential for market use is high.

More on partnerships:

Robert Nasi: Partnerships make forests, trees and agroforestry program work

Diversity, commitment, challenges and shared goals: How CIRAD looks at FTA

Long-term relationships and mutual trust—partnerships and research on climate change

The best science is nothing without local voices: Partnerships and landscapes

Influence flows both ways: Partnerships are key to research on Livelihood systems

Alignment is key to make partnerships work

Partnership increases number of academically trained foresters in DR Congo from 6 to 160 in just ten years

Bringing in the development expertise: INBAR to join CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry

Connecting with countries: Tropenbos International to join CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry


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Bringing in the development expertise: INBAR to join CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry


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Community bamboo nursery in Madagascar. Photo: Inbar
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Photo: Inbar
#more Photo: Inbar

Next year, with the start of Phase 2 of the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry (FTA), two new managing partners will come on board. One of them is the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR), an international non-governmental organization dedicated to helping improve the wellbeing of users and producers of bamboo and rattan within the context of a sustainable resource base. We asked INBAR’s Director General Hans Friederich what joining FTA means for his organization. See more partnerships stories here.

Why did INBAR join FTA?

Bamboo and Rattan are Non-Timber Forest Products that play a critical role in forest ecosystems. They are also used widely in agroforestry systems throughout the tropics and sub-tropics.

Therefore, there are strong synergies between our work and the goals of the FTA program. We currently serve 42 member states and many of these are target countries for FTA research.

How was the partnership arranged?

In preparation of the FTA Phase II, INBAR met with FTA Director Robert Nasi in Beijing in the autumn of 2015 to share our areas of expertise and learn more about the plans for the second phase of the program.

Based on this, INBAR was invited to present its work at a planning meeting for FTA centers and partners in Paris during UNFCCC COP 21. Based on these discussions, INBAR provided inputs to the program as a partner institution that does not belong to the CGIAR.


Also read: Connecting with countries–Tropenbos International to join CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry


What was the relationship between INBAR and FTA like until now? 

During phase I of FTA, INBAR worked with partners such as the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) to provide input to research on bioenergy and sustainable charcoal.

INBAR and and another FTA partner, CATIE, are both members of the Association of International Research Centres for Agriculture (AIRCA) and have a long history of working together to promote sustainable landscape management.

Community bamboo nursery in Madagascar. Photo: Inbar
Community bamboo nursery in Madagascar. Photo: Inbar

What will be your contributions to the next phase as far as you can foresee them now?

Over almost 20 years, INBAR has developed a set of proven models for delivering livelihood development impact at the smallholder level. Our work has already helped to improve the livelihoods of over 300,000 people in our member states.

In addition, we have several good case studies of how bamboo can contribute to landscape restoration, particularly from India and China, where bamboo has been used to restore close to 4 million hectares.

We believe we will be able to add value to FTA research by bringing this development expertise to the partnership.

We have existing programs in Ghana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Madagascar, where we are already working on transfer of models on livelihood development, environmental protection and landscape restoration from Asia to Africa.

china1
The bamboo sector in China is probably the most advanced in the world. Photo: Inbar

We also look forward to creating linkages with FTA to our work in China, where we are headquartered, as well as Latin America and the Caribbean and South Asia.

What are your expectations for the collaboration?

We are excited by the possibility of linking some of the over 2000 FTA scientists to our work in INBAR member states. This will strengthen our development-oriented approach by enabling us to apply cutting-edge scientific research and practices from FTA to our action research and programs.

We hope this will give the governments of our member countries the evidence base needed to develop well-informed policies that maximize the contribution bamboos and rattans can make to meeting national and international commitments to the Sustainable Development Goals.

More partnerships stories:

Long-term relationships and mutual trust—partnerships and research on climate change

The best science is nothing without local voices: Partnerships and landscapes

Influence flows both ways: Partnerships are key to research on Livelihood systems

Partnership increases number of academically trained foresters in DR Congo from 6 to 160 in just ten years


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Developing partnerships between CIFOR and the private plantation sector


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  • The best science is nothing without local voices: Partnerships and landscapes

The best science is nothing without local voices: Partnerships and landscapes


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Photo: Aulia Erlangga/CIFOR
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Photo: Aulia Erlangga/CIFOR
Photo: Aulia Erlangga/CIFOR

By Meine van Noordwijk, Coordinator of the FTA Flagship on Landscape management for environmental services, biodiversity conversation and livelihoods

Per definition, we have three types of partnerships within FTA: The partnerships for research, the partnerships for impact, and the partnerships for capacity development. The three guiding values are legitimacy, salience, and credibility.

In partnerships that are primarily for research we work to get more credible and higher quality science outputs.

We have partnerships that are primarily aimed at the salience aspect which means that whatever is done has the chance to modify policies, to be picked up at practical decision levels. We do the research and somebody else implements it. We need to be upfront in dialogue with whoever might possibly implement it to make sure that what we do is actually relevant for them.


Also read Influence flows both ways, by Fergus Sinclair, Coordinator of FTA Livelihood systems research


Under the premise of legitimacy we specifically find local partners and make sure that whatever knowledge we produce is in tune with local issues, is understood at local level, has local voices that can represent that story.

These three types of partnerships were traditionally seen as following one another, so science came first and the others followed.

But now we see them as being of equal importance. If we want our science to be relevant and to be used, we have to be fully tuned in with whoever could use it. Otherwise there’s an awful lot of good science that stays on the shelves because it doesn’t have the people who can represent it.

Also, in many cases, the partnerships within FTA don’t follow the lines of our Flagships but go across our themes.

Photo: Ollivier Girard/CIFOR
Photo: Ollivier Girard/CIFOR

Academic partnerships

In terms of partnerships that relate to academic credibility we have just as many and divers ones as the other flagships so I only want to highlight a few.

One thing that is specific for our Landscapes Flagship is that we are part of something fairly big called the Ecosystem Services Partnership (ESP) which started off as a network between European an North American universities, working on valuation of ecosystem services. We connected with them to have a more explicit tropical developing country focus.

One of our staff is organizing the Asian ESP network, and we are involved in the African ESP network which will have its first meeting in Nairobi on 21 November.

An interesting one is an informal group of scientists from the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) and other institutions who believe that forests and climate change are not just about carbon.

The aspect of rainfall is maybe even more important. And we want to get that on the table. Our upcoming paper “Cool insights for a hot world” is about to come through. It’s a group work that covers trees, forests and water, the hydroclimate.

At the Global Landscapes Forum 2015, Danone co-hosted a discussion on smallholders and supply chains. Click to watch.
At the Global Landscapes Forum 2015, Danone co-hosted a discussion on smallholders and supply chains. Danone is a key private sector partner in FTA research. Click to watch.

Partnerships for impact

Under the category uptake or use of knowledge in policy arenas we have a number of people involved in the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) that is in the middle of its first major assessment now. Some scientists that are also funded by FTA are involved in that network. We want to make sure that our research gets connected with other policy-relevant work and keep track of emerging questions that we should take onto our agenda.

We also work with IDH The sustainable trade initiative, a grouping of public-private partnerships that support sustainable trade, sustainable landscape interfaces. They are also connected to the trade and investments Flagship 5.

We sometimes work with them as contractors, sometimes in partnership, trying to influence their agenda. This is only one of many partnerships with organizations that are at the interface of private sector and public interest in sustainability.

Another partnership that works well is the collaboration with Danone on some diagnostics of landscapes, asking questions like: Where do they get their water from? and Where are they trying to improve their relationship with the people in that landscape?

We learn from them what really are the issues of a drinking water company that interacts with the landscape and wants to help improve the overall functioning of that landscape.

Partnerships for capacity development

Where the main motivation of a partnership is legitimacy we often deal with capacity development, working under the assumption that even the best knowledge and science, even if it is policy-relevant, will be ignored if it doesn’t have local voices.

In this category we often collaborate with national partners, national research institution such as the Research, Development and Innovation Agency FORDA in Indonesia, or the network of South East Asian universities SEANAFE that want to bring agroforestry into their curricula.

It’s good for us to connect with them on the ground and it is important that whatever science emerges from FTA research is also communicated by local voices. We need the scientists in partner countries to develop their own line of research within a certain topic and get it connected with others globally.

A good example is the recent open letter by 139 scientists contesting the Malaysian governments position on peatlands, in which Malaysian scientists were very vocal.


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  • Connecting with countries: Tropenbos International to join CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry

Connecting with countries: Tropenbos International to join CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry


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Tropenbos International sees its strength in making connections at country level. Photo: Tropenbos International
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Photo: Tropenbos International
Photo: Tropenbos International

Next year, with the start of Phase 2 of the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry (FTA), two new managing partners will come on board. One of them is Tropenbos International, a non-governmental organization, based in Wageningen, Netherlands. Its mission is to improve tropical forest governance and management in order to support conservation and sustainable development. We asked René Boot, Director of Tropenbos International since 2002, what joining FTA means for his organization. See more partnerships stories here.

How did you become involved with FTA?

Our relationship with the CGIAR started many years ago, both with the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), and it developed as we found ever more common ground. Contacts became friendships, collaboration turned into partnership.

The FTA had already involved two organizations from outside the CGIAR, CIRAD and CATIE, in its first phase, and we were invited to become a partner, which acknowledges our work as a ‘boundary organization’.


Also read: Bringing in the development expertise: INBAR to join CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry


We found this a fascinating challenge. More than 200 scientists around the world that need to get knowledge to where it is wanted – and they need to hear research questions from the country level. Tropenbos International could help fill that gap, putting scientists in touch with CSOs, ministries, local businesses, we could help to translate messages, transmit knowledge.

We had early discussions with Meine van Noordwijk, Coordinator of the landscapes Flagship of FTA, which led to more detailed talks with then Director Robert Nasi. Finally, in December 2015, we were invited to a meeting in Paris.

In a small room, we presented our interests, our role and theory of change. And we found a clear and common understanding of problems – and possible solutions. More meetings followed in Nairobi and Rome. The final proposal was submitted at the end of July this year, when Tropenbos International was proud to become a managing partner.

Photo: Tropenbos International
Photo: Tropenbos International

What role can a small organization like Tropenbos International play in such a huge program?

Through our country programs and networks built over the past 30 years, Tropenbos International has its feet firmly on the ground, especially in tropical forest countries. We first developed our position as providers of research-based evidence, before we also became knowledge brokers.

One of our roles is to make connections. To link high-level research as in the FTA Research Program with national-level policies and landscape-level practices.

We aim to ensure that the FTA Program makes an impact at the country level—so that research results can be translated into solid outcomes. But also, and very importantly, we will act as a conduit in the other direction. We are in close and regular contact with a range of actors. They talk to us. And we listen.

We have for example, successfully established multi-stakeholder dialogues in a number of countries. And we can share our experiences in how we have adapted such processes to the different social and political environments we work in.

Multi-stakeholder dialogues are another speciality of Tropenbos International. Photo: Tropenbos International
Multi-stakeholder dialogues are another speciality of Tropenbos International. Photo: Tropenbos International

At the level of national governments, Tropenbos International has very good relationships in half a dozen countries, and good connections in half a dozen more, built on trust and respect over many years.

And our role in a new partnership program with the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs adds another dimension to our work. This program aims to strengthen the capacity of civil society organizations to lobby and advocate for inclusive governance and sustainable management of forested landscapes. In this five-year program we work together with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) NL and Friends of the Earth NL.

We articulate the needs, wishes and demands from a wide range of actors at the national level. These are related to gaps in knowledge, and honed into research questions. These questions, when channelled to FTA, will help in setting a demand-led agenda for action, and that is highly relevant to country needs, which it must be if it is to have any real chance of having an impact. This we see as one of our crucial roles.

Tropenbos International sees its strength in making connections at country level. Photo: Tropenbos International
Tropenbos International sees its strength in making connections at country level. Photo: Tropenbos International

What do you expect of the next phase of FTA research?

Phase 2 is due to start in January 2017, and we are ready to begin in our role as a knowledge broker—an honest knowledge broker.”

I very much appreciate the scope of the second phase, including livelihoods and landscapes, trade and value chains, climate change and genetic resources. All of them are key issues. The elements are there and we have to combine them.

In the first phase, CGIAR institutes worked with CATIE and CIRAD, and now adding Tropenbos International and the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR). The partnership is growing. And we have a joint responsibility for a major program.

I see much more interaction, more integration, and a very strong interest in working together—and in making this work!

Our goal now, for the next five years, is to contribute to resolving some of the perennial challenges the world faces. And we can only do that together.

As a global network of international organizations, the CGIAR and its research programs undertake excellent research, is well respected and has much influence in the international forest and development arena. But real impacts on the ground also require influence at the level of governments and ministries responsible for national policy and practice. And that’s where we come in.

More partnerships stories:

Long-term relationships and mutual trust—partnerships and research on climate change

The best science is nothing without local voices: Partnerships and landscapes

Influence flows both ways: Partnerships are key to research on Livelihood systems

Partnership increases number of academically trained foresters in DR Congo from 6 to 160 in just ten years


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  • Robert Nasi: Partnerships make forests, trees and agroforestry program work

Robert Nasi: Partnerships make forests, trees and agroforestry program work


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Robert Nasi. Photo: CIFOR
Robert Nasi. Photo: CIFOR

The CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry (FTA) is entering its next phase in 2017; this is an opportunity to take stock of the partnerships that made this research program a success and to look at the new partners who will come on board. In several upcoming blog posts and interviews, we are showcasing partnerships that can serve as examples, in the knowledge that it took hundreds of partners to make it work: donor agencies, research institutes and universities, government bodies, nongovernmental organizations and farmers on the ground. For our first blog, we asked the previous FTA Director Robert Nasi about the FTA partnership model and what worked well. You can find more stories on partnerships here.

Partnerships are key to the delivery pathways of FTA; also we have many different levels and types of partnerships within the program, spanning research, capacity development, outreach, implementation, and more.

The core management partnership is between the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Agricultural Research for Development (CIRAD), Bioversity InternationalTropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center [Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza], (CATIE), the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF).

This partnership has been effective although we had a rather difficult starting point in 2011 when centers were essentially competing for leadership of the different Research Programs.


Also read: CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry has new Director


Developing and implementing FTA research gave us the opportunity to sit and plan together, to exchange knowledge and ideas and to learn to value each other. And now, after five years, we can see an increased level of solidarity between partners in developing and getting over the various hurdles during the joint preparation of the proposal for the next phase.

In South Sulawesi, the two FTA partners CIFOR and ICRAF collaborate in the successful AgFor project. Photo: Tri Saputro/CIFOR
In South Sulawesi, the two FTA partners CIFOR and ICRAF collaborate in the successful AgFor project. Photo: Tri Saputro/CIFOR

We can honestly say that we have moved from a competitive to a more collaborative approach. Of course there still is and will be some level of competition because of the nature of the work and the funding context but we are becoming more and more collaborative in our fundraising efforts.

We now have a mature partnership so we can address hard issues up front and solve them together. For me, this is real success and proof of a real partnership.

New partners joining

The fact that new partners, such as Tropenbos International and the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR) want to join us demonstrates the value and reputation of the FTA as a partnership. They want to come on board as core partners for the new phase because they are interested in the research agenda and because FTA as a program adds value to their work. Partners are interested because of the things we do and because of the added value of being part of an integrated effort more than for the prospect of getting a huge amount of money.

Bigger than the sum of its parts

The Tropical managed Forest Observatory is a product of partnerships within FTA.
The Tropical managed Forest Observatory is a product of partnerships within FTA.

We have developed specific partnerships within FTA that are bigger than the program, for example the Tropical managed Forests Observatory (TmFO), led by CIRAD which has 22 institutions working in it. The Partnership for the Tropical Forest Margins (ASB) and the Sentinel Landscapes project are other partnerships within FTA.

Working through the difficulties

During the last 24 months, we have had some issues with commitment to our partners because of unplanned budget cuts but thanks to the maturity of the partnership we have managed to overcome these and keep people on board (even after cutting their budget by more than 50% in some cases).

There is still some room for improvement. It is not always easy for people in one institution to understand what is happening in another in terms of budget management or internal procedures. It is often challenging for non-CGIAR partners to respond to specific CGIAR requests.

This has created some practical issues, but we’ve always managed to sort it out. So, all in all, FTA in a short number of years and in a difficult budget environment, has managed to gather up six competitive organizations at the top of their field in forest, trees, agroforestry and land use research, to work together in a real collaborative way. And the decision by the CGIAR System Council to continue this vast integrated program for another six years confirms that FTA phase 1 was a real success story.

More partnerships stories:

Long-term relationships and mutual trust—partnerships and research on climate change

The best science is nothing without local voices: Partnerships and landscapes

Influence flows both ways: Partnerships are key to research on Livelihood systems

Connecting with countries: Tropenbos International to join CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry

Partnership increases number of academically trained foresters in DR Congo from 6 to 160 in just ten years


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