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The European Union’s Landscapes for Our Future programme supports 22 integrated landscape management projects across 19 countries and 3 sub-regions across the Global South.

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Observing how iterative learning and adaptation contribute to Integrated Landscape Management

Progress might require a meandering route in politically sensitive, ecologically important, and operationally challenging settings. Recent experiences from our landscapes in Latin America and the Caribbean illustrate how adaptive learning offers a way forward.

Over recent months, the LFF Central Component in Latin America has been collaborating with EU-funded Integrated Landscape Management (ILM) initiatives to gain a deeper understanding of how different dimensions of ILM function in practice, particularly iterative and adaptive learning.

Iterative and adaptive learning are key characteristics of effective ILM initiatives. This is because landscapes are highly complex and dynamic socio-ecological systems with multiple and dynamic interacting elements and a high degree of uncertainty about how they will evolve.

“A socio-ecological system is an integrated system of people and nature, where ecological and social components are interdependent and co-evolve through feedbacks.”

— Elinor Ostrom, 2009

As we described in our Landscapes in Practice guideline, iterative learning is a continuous, cyclical process of learning through action, reflection, and adjustment. It involves testing ideas or strategies, observing the results, gathering feedback, and then refining approaches based on what was learned. Rather than following a fixed plan, iterative learning enables adaptation over time, particularly in complex or dynamic environments. Without iterative learning processes, initiatives can fall into a trap of static planning and top-down technocratic fixes. This process of identifying best practices and improving over time is often described as a ‘learning by doing’ approach.

To encourage ILM proponents to reflect on the role of iterative and adaptive learning in their work, the LFF team has been facilitating reflective activities with these ILM practitioners, supporting them as they learn from their own experiences.

Facilitation has included group exchanges, workshops, bilateral discussions, and peer exchanges across regions.

In November 2024, the Central Component organized an Iterative Learning Webinar, which brought together colleagues from multiple ILM projects, including Paisajes Andinos (Ecuador), Mi Biósfera (Honduras), the OECS-ILM Project (Organization of Eastern Caribbean States), and Paisajes Sostenibles (Colombia).

This gathering focused on knowledge sharing and dialogue among ILM practitioners in the region to highlight practical solutions and approaches for iterative learning and encouraging reflection on governance, institutionalization, and stakeholder engagement for adaptive management.

LFF partners emphasized the critical role of cross-sector partnerships in advancing sustainable landscape outcomes. Speakers stressed that building and maintaining these partnerships – especially across governments, communities, and NGOs – is not always easy, especially amid changing political and financial contexts. Yet, it is precisely this collaborative spirit that enables long-term impact, and landscape approaches are, by nature, long-term investments.

Khalil Walji, representing the LFF Central Component, noted: “Through our Joint Reflection and Learning Missions, we’ve seen firsthand how collaborative learning can lead to significant improvements in land restoration efforts.”

Participants exchanged fresh ideas on innovative strategies to bolster these alliances, such as participatory governance models and capacity-building initiatives, ultimately highlighting the essential role of cooperation in driving sustainable outcomes in landscape management.

The webinar highlighted LFF’s strategy of fostering collaboration among projects to improve practices and outcomes by learning from one another.

A common thread among the experiences was the value of integrating local knowledge into landscape management strategies and giving voice and ownership of the process to local resource managers.  We believe the integration of local knowledge into our practices is essential for achieving sustainability in landscape management.

Lessons from the field: How has adaptation manifested across LFF landscapes?

Ecuador – Paisajes Andinos

During our March (2025) visit to Ecuador, the Paisajes Andinos team recounted the approach they had used to support community conservation of a threatened páramo landscape in the Simiátug parish. Rather than imposing a predefined conservation model, the project supported local stakeholders in exploring governance mechanisms through exchange visits and dialogues. They had initiated a process where communities visited others to learn from their experiences, which helped target communities surrounding the paramo learn from their experiences. This, in turn, enabled the communities surrounding the targeted páramos to identify potential governance mechanisms that conserved resources and secured rights. The project had also invested time in building trust between the communities and Ecuador’s Ministry of Environment. As a result, the communities had decided that a mechanism known as a Hydrological Protection Area was best suited to their needs and had joined local and national government, NGOs and FAO in a collaborative effort to demarcate and develop it.

Colombia – Paisajes Sostenibles

During an April 2025 learning mission to Santa Marta, Colombia, staff from the Paisajes Sostenibles partner INVEMAR recounted their experience working with fisherfolk in the Ciénaga Grande de Santa Marta (CGSM). In response to observed declines in the blue crab stock due to overfishing, technicians introduced innovative traps that included openings allowing juvenile crabs to escape. During monitoring visits, the technicians noticed that many fishers had blocked the openings and continued harvesting crabs regardless of the stage of growth. As a result, the INVEMAR technicians changed their strategy and implemented a participatory experiment with fishers to monitor harvests using these innovative traps. Through this process, fishers realized that concentrating only on larger crabs would not diminish their harvest but would ensure more crabs for the future.  Acceptance of the modified traps expanded because fishers not only now saw how they worked but also felt ownership, as this was a solution they had validated.

Brazil-Paraguay – Cerrado Resiliente

During our May 2025 visit to Paraguay, technicians for the CERES (Cerrado Resiliente) project used a flexible planning approach that allowed them to facilitate iterative learning cycles with stakeholders in the Agua Dulce zone around the Monumento Natural Cerro Chovoreca. The project’s initial proposals (e.g., formal biological corridors) had proven unviable due to conflicting interests among stakeholders. Rather than insisting on these original ideas, the project shifted focus to socializing the idea of connectivity through maps and dialogue, gaining legitimacy without resistance. Through this process, they were able to aggregate local interest around a strategy to demarcate the Cerro Chovoreca conservation area, which would allow local landowners to also clarify their property boundaries. This reframing helped shift attention from a potentially divisive intervention to a collaborative vision of landscape governance. Collaboration among government agencies, local communities, the private sector and NGOs resulted in the institutionalization of landscape governance in the frontier area. In short, adaptive learning ensured progress in a politically sensitive, ecologically important, and operationally challenging setting.

Iterative learning is emerging as a powerful driver of action across LFF landscapes by enabling projects to remain responsive, adaptive, and grounded in local realities. Rather than relying on rigid plans, project teams embrace flexible, feedback-driven approaches that allow them to learn alongside communities, adjust strategies based on real-time insights, and co-create solutions that are both effective and locally legitimate. Whether through peer exchanges in Ecuador, participatory experiments in Colombia, or adaptive planning in Paraguay, this continuous learning process is helping overcome political, ecological, and social challenges, translating reflection into tangible progress on the ground.

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Landscapes in Practice: Iterative learning and adaptation

Taking the bull by the horns

Can Integrated Landscape Management contribute to sustainable cattle ranching? And vice versa?
Above, from left: In Honduras, Don Redin Valecillo’s involvement in Mi Biósfera has shown economic and environmental benefits at his farm, Los Mangos. Rancher and cattle in Bolivia’s dry Chiquitano forests, where Paisajes Resilientes works to mitigate the effects of drought.

In the realm of Integrated Landscape Management (ILM), one pressing challenge often takes centre stage: deforestation. As we delve deeper into this complex problem, a compelling truth comes to light: cattle ranching is typically a significant driver of this activity.

In recent years, strategies to promote sustainable alternatives to conventional ranching have emerged, aiming to mitigate and adapt to climate change, reduce deforestation, preserve vulnerable ecosystems, and mitigate the impacts of cattle production. Achieving these objectives often involves endorsing enhanced practices, implementing robust monitoring systems, and fostering collaboration among various stakeholders. ILM could be conducive to sustainable cattle ranching and enable pathways to achieving impact at scale.

Under the EU-supported Landscapes For Our Future programme, there are several ILM projects in Latin America that have begun addressing deforestation related to cattle production by experimenting with sustainable approaches to cattle ranching. These projects include Mi Biósfera in Honduras, Cerrado Resiliente (CERES) in Brazil/Paraguay, Paisajes Resilientes in Bolivia, Paisajes Sostenibles in Colombia and Paisajes Andinos in Ecuador. Of these, the first three are the furthest advanced, and ready to offer lessons to our programme.

Towards more sustainable cattle ranching in Landscapes For Our Future projects

Over the last decade, sustainable cattle ranching has attracted greater visibility and importance. It is also becoming a more frequent requirement in global beef markets due to new regulations supporting the transition towards sustainable agriculture and forestry. For instance, last month the European Union passed the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), seeking to reduce the EU market’s impact on deforestation and forest degradation globally. The EUDR requires the operators and traders of key commodities – such as cocoa, coffee, cattle, timber and palm oil – to be ‘deforestation-free’. This transition will also enable countries to comply with climate change mitigation and conservation commitments. Moreover, even if cattle farmers are not seeking to position their products in European or other export markets, sustainable ranching can support ranchers in multiple other ways.

The Mi Biósfera project being implemented in the south-western flank of Honduras’ Río Plátano Biosphere buffer zone is actively spearheading the adoption of promising technologies aimed at driving the transition towards sustainable cattle ranching. A collaborative effort between Honduras’ Forest Conservation Institute, the Zamorano Pan-American Agricultural School and the Mi Biósfera Consortium, which comprises FUNDER, the National Agricultural University, and the Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (SERNA), Mi Biósfera is providing training on sustainable practices to approximately 1,000 cattle ranchers through field schools and facilitating access to advanced technologies via sustainable finance programmes.

For example, Redin Valecillo’s involvement in Mi Biósfera has shown economic and environmental benefits at his farm, Los Mangos. The project introduced a more sustainable rotational grazing system, allowing his soils to recover and the quality of pasture to improve, thus enhancing its nutritional value for his cattle. More sustainable ranching has resulted in weight gain and increased milk production for his cows, while also reducing production costs over time. Notably, the use of solar panels and electric fencing has further lowered expenses.  The system’s efficiency has reduced labour requirements, and the return of riparian forest cover has improved water management. Decreased pesticide usage has led to increased biodiversity on the farm, and Mr. Vallecillo’s farm — one of the 20 farms in the pilot programme— is transitioning towards reduced carbon emissions.

The path to collective sustainability

Above: Socialization meetings of the Bahía Negra Land Use Plan in Paraguay with different local stakeholder groups

ILM acknowledges the intricate interconnections among distinct stakeholders and their land use systems within landscapes, such as forests, pastures and water bodies. Adopting an ILM approach requires recognizing the importance of coordination and collaboration among interest groups. By convening farmers, local communities, government agencies and environmental organizations, among others, ILM facilitates collaborative efforts to address complex challenges such as deforestation, water management or land tenure, while unlocking numerous benefits for the social and economic development of farmers and their communities.

The CERES project in Paraguay illustrates how collaborative processes can provide a common platform for stakeholders to share knowledge, align goals and develop coordinated strategies to prioritize forest preservation while meeting the needs of producers, such as cattle farmers. By working together, stakeholders can pool resources, leverage expertise and ensure effective monitoring and enforcement of zero-deforestation commitments. By encouraging open dialogue and fostering a deeper understanding of different stakeholders’ perspectives and concerns, ILM serves as a catalyst for stakeholder coordination, enabling a unified and concerted effort towards achieving more sustainable cattle ranching practices.

WWF Paraguay, responsible for implementing the CERES project in the Alto Paraguay landscape, has successfully engaged small, medium and large-sized ranchers through a multistakeholder platform that highlights shared interests among stakeholders. WWF Paraguay’s efforts have resulted in significant collaboration among diverse stakeholder groups, focusing on the Bahía Negra district’s land use management plan, known as POUT (Plan De Ordenamiento Urbano y Territorial).

The POUT Roundtable was established as a multi-stakeholder platform to support the POUT process. It facilitated dialogue and feedback from various entities in the landscape, including national government agencies, the Bahía Negra municipality, local and regional cattle ranching associations and other producer associations, environmental and social organizations, indigenous groups and NGOs like WWF. Their participation was driven by the desire to have their interests represented in the final territorial planning process.

The POUT Roundtable, initially established with one specific goal, has evolved into an entry point for multi-stakeholder dialogue on a range of issues that was previously lacking in the territory

Valentina Bedoya, WWF Paraguay’s Sustainable Landscapes Officer

The POUT Roundtable has proven to be a successful mechanism for participatory decision-making and consensus building regarding land use in the territory, a sensitive topic because it touches on peoples’ livelihoods. However, an important lesson learned, as expressed by Patricia Roche, WWF Paraguay’s Project Specialist, is the need to empower governmental authorities to effectively lead these spaces. As highlighted by Roche, “it is crucial for these platforms to be led and convened by local or national authorities, as certain interest groups may view international NGOs as outsiders with conservation biases that could influence the outcomes.”

In addition to its involvement in the POUT Roundtable, WWF Paraguay, through the Alliance for Sustainable Development, offers technical assistance to cattle producers and establishes connections with a sustainable cattle market. CERES also provides them with assistance in the field to support nurseries for native tree species for use in silvopastoral systems. Moreover, CERES conducts fire management activities in which different landscape stakeholders — including the cattle sector — are involved. As a result, better management practices are being implemented in the territory.

In Bolivia’s dry Chiquitano forests, the Paisajes Resilientes project, led by GIZ, has been working with small and medium-scale cattle producers to help ranchers mitigate and adapt to the adverse effects of the droughts impacting the area. Photo by GIZ/Paisajes Resilientes.

In Bolivia, another effort at multi-stakeholder coordination is attempting to support a transition towards sustainable cattle farming practices to adapt to climate change effects such as water scarcity. In Bolivia’s dry Chiquitano forests, the Paisajes Resilientes project, led by GIZ, has been working with small and medium-scale cattle producers. In this region, sustainable farming initiatives, especially by reducing deforestation and improving water management practices, are being promoted as alternatives that could help ranchers mitigate and adapt to the adverse effects of the droughts impacting the area.

Taking the bull by the horns: balancing tradeoffs and defining shared goals

An important barrier to the adoption of sustainable practices is that producers need to see a clear benefit to transitioning from conventional ranching practices. Recognizing future benefits can also involve balancing tradeoffs between different interest groups and defining shared goals that might be difficult to achieve individually – such as the management of wildfires that the CERES project is addressing. By showcasing compelling examples of sustainable cattle ranching, such as Mi Biósfera’s model farms, other farmers might be inspired to harness greater positive economic, social and environmental outcomes themselves. In fact, farmers within Mi Biósfera’s intervention area have already attracted other farmers to adopt similar sustainable and climate-smart farming approaches.