Learning from what works

What links an Indonesian oceanographer with an Ethiopian beekeeper? And what do eco-restaurants in Ecuador have in common with aquaculture facilities in Madagascar? They are all part of a global partnership initiative featuring an innovative learning and knowledge-sharing approach in nature conservation and sustainable development. PANORAMA – Solutions for a Healthy Planet promotes replicable solutions at local and regional level to achieve impact on the global scale. Recently, the partnership initiative launched a new thematic community on “Agriculture and Biodiversity” which is coordinated by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and the international NGO Rare.

The objectives of PANORAMA

PANORAMA builds on the principle that turning good ideas into successful sustainable innovation is key to bringing change. It functions as a knowledge broker linking practitioners across sectors and regions. The concept behind it is simple but intriguing: How can practitioners learn from each other and avoid inventing the wheel another time? With its unique building block approach, PANORAMA encourages replication, adaptation and upscaling of successful approaches to different geographical, societal and thematic environments.

As the biodiversity crisis is heating up, climate change is threatening human lives and natural places and causing many other challenges to reach our doorsteps. Agricultural practices that benefit biodiversity instead of contributing to its loss are the need of the hour. With just a few mouse clicks, practitioners and development planners from all over the world now have a place-to-go to study solutions that are tried and tested, and even go further. All solutions address relevant Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Aichi Biodiversity Targets.

To tackle climate change, adapt to its impacts or stop the loss of biodiversity, people need knowledge. Therefore, we have to build on successful approaches and work together. The PANORAMA initiative is an excellent example for such cooperation”, said Dr. Elsa Nickel, Director General for Nature Conservation and Sustainable Use of Natural Resources at the German Federal Ministry for Environment (BMUB) upon the launch of the new theme at last November’s COP 23 in Bonn. BMUB, with its International Climate Initiative (IKI) supports the development of PANORAMA, through a number of projects.

 The new theme: Agriculture & Biodiversity

The first innovative approaches on agriculture and biodiversity had been collected last year as part of the “Farming for Biodiversity” contest initiated by Rare. “Solutions exist in remote parts around the planet. Local communities are the research and development labs of problem solving. We just have to find what’s working and make it available where it is needed, because climate change needs behaviour change”, said Rare-CEO Brett Jenks. Lorenz Petersen, Head of GIZ’s Department for Climate Change, Rural Development and Infrastructure, seconded: “Partnerships like PANORAMA are perfect tool to share successful experiences and leverage impact. PANORAMA is not an exclusive club, but open to new partners willing to contribute.”

The PANORAMA partnership is currently run by five key players in the field of nature conservation and sustainable development:  the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), GIZ, UN Environment, the Norwegian Foundation GRID-Arendal and Rare – all of them with broad expertise.

Agriculture and Biodiversity is the latest theme in a quickly expanding PANORAMA portfolio. Other current themes are “Marine and Coastal solutions”, “Protected Areas solutions” and “Ecosystem-based Adaptation solutions”. Each theme is coordinated by an organisation or a consortium. PANORAMA it set up for sustainability and will continuously expand to cover further thematic portals that highlight integrated solutions for nature conservation and development goals.

Since the launch of the current platform in 2016, the network of PANORAMA contributors and beneficiaries has developed as well – with now around 350 solutions from over 70 countries. The PANORAMA web portal is visited by 2.000 visitors a month – with a rising tendency, reflecting the demand for success stories proven to make a difference.

All PANORAMA communities are open to projects and organisations to share their success stories as solution cases, making their work more known and allowing others to learn from it.

Author: Oliver Hanschke, GIZ, Eschborn, Germany

More information:

www.panorama.solutions (Internet)

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