The Satoyama Initiative launched the flagship program, Community Development and Knowledge
Management for the Satoyama Initiative (COMDEKS), in 2011 to promote sustainable use of
natural resources by local communities across the globe. With financial backing from the Japan
Biodiversity Fund, the COMDEKS program provides small grants administered by the Global
Environment Facility (GEF) Small Grants Programme (SGP) and United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP) to community organizations for environmental projects with a landscape
approach. Community recipients then implement projects to maintain and rebuild SocioEcological Production Landscapes and Seascapes (SEPLS).

COMDEKS was introduced in Bhutan in 2013. The initial intervention took place in the Gamri
watershed from 2013-2015 with support for 12 projects from the GEF-SGP and UNDP Bhutan.
Furthermore, the landscape approach piloted by COMDEKS has been adopted by Bhutan?s
GEF-SGP country programme strategy (CPS) for 2016-2020 (Operational Phase 6) and 2021-
2023 (Operational Phase 7). Under this SEPLS approach, the GEF-SGP and UNDP Bhutan, in
collaboration with the Royal Government of Bhutan (RGOB), fund projects related to biodiversity
conservation, climate change, sustainable forest management, chemical and waste-water
treatment and land degradation with the overall aim to improve environmental resilience as well
as community livelihoods.

This report presents insights from community members, civil society organizations, local leaders,
government officials and policymakers on mainstreaming and upscaling landscape approaches
(such as SEPLS) and ensuring their financial sustainability. The consultations and dialogues were
held in the communities of intervention, with key government agencies, implementing civil
society organizations (CSOs) and with other relevant groups and organizations. The conversations
gathered insights, specifically, on the GEF-SGP projects based on the SEPLS approach and,
generally, on other initiatives and interventions in Bhutan taking a landscape approach.
While they were not specified as landscape approaches, many projects implemented in Bhutan
since the early 1990s have been aimed at building landscape resilience in tandem with improving
the socioeconomic status of local communities. Although these interventions have alleviated
poverty, enhanced conservation and improved national capacity, landscape approaches have yet
to be effectively mainstreamed. As noted in a review by the Policy and Planning Division (PPD)
of Ministry of Agriculture and Forests (MOAF) in 2018, we are yet to establish a shared vision
and objectives for pursuing a landscape approach; enhance ecological, social and economic
interactions among different parts of landscapes; and implement collaborative, communityengaged processes while pursuing a landscape approach.

The COMDEKS/SEPLS approach to conservation has been unique in its strong focus on
community. COMDEKS recognizes local communities as the primary agents of landscape
change in SEPLS and thus aims to give communities tools to improve their understanding of
the social and ecological dynamics and processes that shape their landscape and its resilience.
COMDEKS projects encourage communities to analyze and discuss the landscape in which they
are embedded and, ultimately, take ownership for its resilience. Through small direct grants and the participatory rating exercise of resilience indicators, the SEPLS approach ensures that
interventions are community-driven, thereby reinforcing the relationship between the people and
their immediate natural environment.

The field visits of the GEF-SGP project locations revealed that overall, the projects resulted
in positive outcomes, especially in managing the environment. The interventions to improve
livelihoods had varying results - the most successful results were seen in groups that were either
led by an entrepreneur and/or well-established cooperatives or community forestry groups.
All communities exhibited high awareness on the importance of sustainable natural resource
management and its related co-benefits. However, most communities faced challenges in
managing and sustaining the community groups they are a part of and expressed the need for
financial and technical support to maintain infrastructure, equipment and machineries, as well as
to start and manage new entrepreneurial activities.

On the one hand, the landscape approaches adopted by many past and on-going projects
has generated awareness and appreciation that support mainstreaming and upscaling these
approaches and SEPLS in Bhutan. On the other hand, gaps persist and mainstreaming remains
limited despite attempts from past projects to follow an integrated landscape development
approach, suggesting challenges in adopting SEPLS or similar approaches at broader scales.
Recommendations for mainstreaming both SEPLS, in particular, and landscape approaches, in
general, include:
? Creating a common understanding and awareness of the landscape approach ? through
curating locally-relevant knowledge and raising awareness of the landscape approach among
all sections of society.
? Building capacity at all levels of government, non-government and private sectors for pursuing
a landscape approach.
? Creating institutional mechanisms and governance structures to support a landscape
approach within Bhutan?s Five-Year Plans, empowering local landscape planning, establishing
mechanisms for collaborative work and increasing the role of the private sector.
In addition to mainstreaming, ideas for financing a landscape approach include:
? Connecting the language of biodiversity with banking by, for instance, developing and
communicating business cases for landscape interventions based on proven studies, data on
financial returns and the cost of inaction.
? Inviting and fostering partnerships among a diversity of stakeholders for mutual benefit, such
as establishing linkages between short-term projects and national initiatives (e.g., REDD+)
or engaging entrepreneurs and the private sector to work with local community-based
organizations.
? Increasing funds for the landscape approach at local and community levels through fiscal
decentralization, providing incentives and loan products to communities and entrepreneurs,
and through improving demand for local products and services generated by landscape
conservation.

Guided by the national philosophy of GNH, the past and current landscape-based initiatives
illustrate Bhutan?s interest in pursuing development in harmony with nature. The COMDEKS
programme in Bhutan has been successful in promoting sustainable use of natural resources by
communities in their landscapes, especially by empowering communities to become stewards
of their local landscapes. As Bhutan continues its journey of decentralization and enhancing the
capacity of local governments, SEPLS could offer practical tools to engage local communities in
assessing and actively managing their natural resources for ecosystem resilience.


Key results in bullets:
13 on-site community dialogues have been conducted in COMDEKS landscape for OP6: (a) Gamri Watershed, Tashigang District; and (b) Lower Manas Basin, Zhemgang District. In each
of the 13 sites, field assessments and visits were conducted between April and May 2021. 91 people (31 women) were consulted. In addition to the community consultations, a total of 17 key stakeholders from government and the civil society have been consulted for upscaling and mainstreaming the SEPLs approach in May and June 2021. Graced by the Minister of Agriculture and
Forests, organized a virtual national-level dialogue on 19 July 2021 to accommodate attendance from the target landscape and other districts. The dialogue?s objective was to generate recommendations and provide a platform for stakeholders to come together and share insights. Produced three knowledge products: two videos on the dialogue process and the national dialogue outcome, and the National Dialogue Report. The report from the national dialogue presents insights from community members, CSOs, local leaders, government officials and policymakers on mainstreaming and upscaling landscape approaches (such as SEPLS) and ensuring their financial sustainability. The dialogues resulted in several recommendations for mainstreaming both SEPLS and landscape approaches (report can be accessed from www.bes.org.bt)

KM products (videos):
1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6R3nBWtQsik&t=28s