In the rugged landscapes of northern Laos, conservation is not only about protecting forests and wildlife within park boundaries. It is about forging, maintaining and deepening partnerships with the people who live in and around those landscapes.

One of the six core dimensions of Integrated Landscape Management (ILM), as articulated in our Central Component’s initial hypothesis, is stakeholder engagement: inclusive, meaningful engagement of all those who shape or depend on a landscape is vital. But what does effective engagement look like in practice?

When Lemson Betha first arrived in Zimbabwe’s southeast Lowveld to work as a facilitator for SAT-WILD, he was stepping into unfamiliar territory: he hadn’t grown up in the region, and didn’t speak the local language. But he knew that building trust would be the foundation of any successful work.

Candid conversations can reveal surprising truths. Watch this short video to eavesdrop as ILM practitioners and funders debrief after a brainstorming session on the key ingredients for ILM implementation success.

“Landscapes are complex systems, Kim Geheb, Coordinator of our programme’s Central Component points out. So we should be thinking about Integrated Landscape Management from a systemic perspective, he argues. And then: how do we change system direction?

We invite you to settle in amongst the din of the cicadas and eavesdrop on the conversation as we chat about that 'dirty' word: power.

Informal, illuminating conversation on the centrality of an integrated approach: the day after members of our programme's Central Component had delivered a presentation on Integrated Landscape Management to EU project managers, Kim Geheb sat down with the European Commission's Head of Environment and Mainstreaming and the Policy Officer for Land and Environment to reflect on the key takeaways from the session and the comments that had turned the most heads.

Wouldn't you like to sit down with the EU masterminds of our programme and ask them their vision and rationale for Integrated Landscape Management? Members of the Central Component did just that recently in Brussels.

Could a long line of grass hedge against erosion? An integrated landscape management project in Zimbabwe is proving that it might.

Dr Cora van Oosten's keynote presentation at GLF Climate, alongside COP27, provided an insightful overview of the whole spectrum of what is contained within ILM.