This project is developing sustainable business models for landscape restoration in Myanmar and Viet Nam. The project is working in partnership with Indigenous communities to develop a nature-positive approach to landscape restoration that combines diversifying species in monoculture farms with shifting farming practices towards environmental conservation and enhancing sustainable products.
Two landscapes where communities are facing environmental degradation and economic hardship
The livelihoods of ethnic communities living in the Inle Lake watershed area in Myanmar are heavily dependent on selling cheroot leaves, which require large amounts of fuelwood for drying and earn little income compared to other perennial crops. Deforestation has resulted in soil erosion, water pollution and biodiversity loss. Communities are eager to transition to avocado farming but find it difficult to access markets and implement regenerative farming models.
The K’Ho and Cil people, in the Lạc Dương and K’No districts of Lam Dong province in Viet Nam are primarily smallholder farmers with monoculture coffee farming as their main or single source of income. However, current coffee farming practices are largely reliant on chemical fertilisers and pesticides. Farming on high, sloping land, the existing practices have exacerbated soil degradation, lowered coffee productivity and disrupted the local environment.
When trading their coffee products at local markets, ethnic minority people have faced price gouging and often sell at prices that are too low. Smallholders have a lack of awareness of alternative farming practices, and lack techniques and capital for investment, or the capacity to ensure fair trade. They need support to transition to more environmentally-friendly practices and better capacity to fairly trade their coffee products.
New business models balance nature and livelihoods
This project is providing an alternative to unsustainable agricultural practices by developing business models that safeguard ecosystems and provide improved livelihoods. Stakeholders will use a research-to-action approach to explore the drivers of landscape degradation, generate evidence on alternatives and identify new business models.
The project is developing inclusive and sustainable business models for landscape restoration through three outcomes:
- Focus on generating research on the effects of current practices, finding potential solutions and building bridges between different actors
- Leverage research and collaboration to create new sustainable business models rooted in regenerative agriculture that balance socio-ecological priorities and economic goals, and
- Develop a locally led monitoring mechanism to track and evaluate the implementation of the new models