The purpose of sentinel landscapes is to measure changes and understand long-term trends in socio-economic and biophysical variables across the 'forest transition curve' globally across comparative sites. Sentinel Landscapes is a cross-cutting theme of CGIAR's Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry. Read more about Bioversity International’s work on forest and tree genetic diversity: http://www.bioversityinternational.org/research-portfolio/forest-tree-genetic-diversity/

1. Monitoring Change, Creating Outcomes: Forests,
Trees and Agroforestry in Sentinel Landscapes
Laura Snook and Judy Loo, Forest Genetic Resources Programme
4 April 2013

2. Sentinel Landscapes stimulated
rapid approval of program
Recognizing that:
• Trees are long-lived
• Can‟t achieve impact during 3 year-
projects
• Need for turning local to global
perspectives through comparisons
• Current research efforts dispersed

3. Key concept in ‘Forests, Trees and Agroforestry’
Changing nature of forests over time
 Idealized to represent 5 stages
Forest transition curve

4. Purpose of Sentinel Landscapes
To measure changes and understand long-term trends in
socio-economic and biophysical variables across the
„forest transition curve‟ globally across comparative sites.
Miombo woodland, Mozambique (J. Loo)

5. Objectives
1. Cross-regional comparison
2. Integration of biophysical & social
data
3. Long-term presence (at least 10
years)
4. Co-location of research activities
(share resources)
• Between Themes
• With partners
• With other CRPs

6. Challenges
 Selection of a set of comparable
landscapes for cross- regional
comparisons
 Integrating biophysical &
socioeconomic data
 Building/integrating data sets
 Integrating action research with
long term monitoring
 Ensuring/funding long-term
presence
Parkia fruits, Burkina Faso (B. Vinceti)

7. Opportunities for Bioversity
in Sentinel Landscapes
• Monitoring the status and trends of FGR
• Monitoring impact of interventions
• Developing long-term relationships with
local Universities for capacity development
outcomes
• Potential for long-term research (ie
provenance or common garden experiments
across gradients)
However, funding for research within SLs is
not provided by the SL budget (except for Mahogany tree, Maya Forest (J. Loo)
predefined monitoring)

8. The Process of Selecting
Sentinel Landscapes
1. Criteria (15):
• Existing data
• Scientists from >1 CRP6
components/themes
•Variation along the forest transition curve
•Etc.
2. Selection of a set of comparable landscapes
for cross-regional comparisons
•SL workshop – June 2012, Nairobi
•18 proposed candidate landscapes
(3 from Bioversity)

9. Selected Landscapes
Tier 1:
6 regional landscapes (2 per region)
2 cross-regional themes:
(oil palm; tropical production forests)
Tier 2:
6 regional landscapes

10. Tier 1 Sentinel Landscapes
Latin America South East Asia
1. Nicaragua Honduras (“N-H SL”) 1. Mekong (Cambodia, Lao
+ Maya Forest (?) PDR, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietna
m, and Southwest China)
2. Western Amazon (MAP) Madre
de Dios and Ucayali (Peru),
2. Borneo/Sumatra/Sulawesi
Acre (Brazil) and Pando
(Bolivia)

11. Tier 1 Sentinel Landscapes
Africa Issue bound
1. South East Mali, South West 1. Tropical Production Forests
Burkina Faso, Togo and Observatory
Northern Ghana. (Sikasso-
Bobo Dioulasso-Tamale) 2. Oil palm: Landscapes, market
chains and investment flows
2. Central Africa Humid Tropics
Transect (Congo Basin)
Nigerien Parkland (L. Snook) Moabi tree with Baka man and Moabi log, Cameroon (L. Snook)

12. 6 Tier 1 Regional Sentinel Landscapes
Boundaries to be decided

13. Tier 2 Sentinel Landscapes
Latin America
1. Eastern Amazon
Asia
1. Western Ghats
2. Central Asia
Africa
1. Miombo Woodland
2. Afromontane
Issue bound
1. Mangroves?
Miombo woodland, Mozambique (L Snook)

14. Bioversity Contributions
Judy Loo member of Sentinel Landscapes Methods
group; Laura Snook as Theme 2 Coordinator
Bioversity contributions to diversity monitoring:
• 5% holdback proposal led by Judy Loo to
develop and test indicators of genetic diversity of
trees that are informative, practical,
understandable for monitoring trends
•FGR programe collecting data on tree species in
Sentinel Landscapes
•Barbara Vinceti is focal point for biodiversity
monitoring in West African landscape
•Marlene Elias is designing questions for baseline
data collection on gender
Barbara Vinceti, Burkina Faso

15. Bioversity Staff in Sentinel
Landscape Development
• Barbara Vinceti in Western Africa
• Julius Tieguhong and Paulus Maukonen in
Congo Basin
• Riina Jalonen in Sumatra/Borneo, Tropical
Production Forest Observatory and Mekong
• Evert Thomas in the Tropical Production
Forest Observatory and Western Amazon
• Laura Snook in Mesoamerican (Nicaragua-
Honduras) Sentinel Landscape
• Judy Loo leading Central Asia Tier II proposal
development
• Bhuwon Sthapit linked with Western Ghats
Tier II proposal
Above, Paulus Maukonen, Cameroon;

16. Bioversity in research projects associated with
Sentinel Landscapes
Led by Bioversity:
•Forestry to enhance livelihoods and sustain
forests in Mesoamerica (Maya forest linkages with
Nicaragua-Honduras SL)
•Threats to priority food tree species in Burkina
Faso: drivers of resource losses and mitigation
measures (with CIFOR & ICRAF; West African SL)
•Beyond Timber: Reconciling the needs of the
Logging Industry with those of forest-dependent
people (with CIFOR; Congo Basin SL)
Led by ICRAF:
•Ecosystem Services Cooperation: Across sentinel
landscapes, the science of ecoagriculture and
national green accounting (Fabrice DeClerk)
Above, logs in Cameroon (J. Tieguhong)

17. Thank you
www.bioversityinternational.org