Terraviva
Community-Led Landscape Management for People and Nature
TerraViva for Sustainable Landscapes for People and Nature - TerraViva, for short - is an emerging initiative that encompasses SAN’s vision of community-driven transformational change. The initiative promotes sustainable communities that are socially just and equitable, environmentally sound and resilient, and economically viable and inclusive.
An emerging initiative that encompasses SAN’s vision of community-driven transformational change
For almost forty years, landscape approaches have been talked about as a means to integrate sustainable management practices into a wider territory, initially for biodiversity conservation, and later in agriculture dominated landscapes to advance market solutions to pressing economic and social problems. Reconciling the tension between conservation and economic development is especially necessary to help rural communities capture economic benefits and maintain a healthy and prosperous environment.
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What is more, we urgently need to take action on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the effects of climate change, tackle poverty in rural communities that depend on agriculture for employment and income, and conserve biodiversity. We believe all of this can be achieved through collaborative, systemic action, with the active participation of local stakeholders.
TerraViva is built on the principles of collaboration and participation for transformational change. By agreeing on a common understanding of a landscape’s conditions, opportunities and challenges, local stakeholders engage in a negotiation process to develop a long-term shared vision, enabling systemic interventions that help create and strengthen nature-based businesses, foster the adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices, and connect small and medium scale producers with access to markets and finance options that reward sustainable land use.
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We call this agreement a Common Territorial Agenda, and it is a cornerstone of TerraViva’s community-led approach for shared outcomes and collective impact. When the private sector, local governments, communities and civil society organizations come together and identify a desirable future for their landscape, they’ll be motivated to work together and implement actionable strategies that balance social, environmental and economic opportunities of the landscape stakeholders, creating sustainable value for all.
Consortium partners:
