Editorial: Spatial Tools for Integrated and Inclusive Landscape Governance

Abstract

Climate and environmental challenges in the Anthropocene adversely affect the ecological integrity of mosaic landscapes, jeopardizing food security, livelihoods, climate resilience, and the provision of ecosystem services. Similarly, there are concerns about persistent poverty, inequality, and the exclusion of marginalized people from land use and decision-making. Hence, the growing call to deal with these social and environmental issues holistically at the landscape level through inclusive multi-stakeholder approaches. This special issue on Spatial tools for integrated and inclusive landscape governance is a follow-up to Environmental Management 62(1), titled ‘From Synergy to Complexity: The Trend Toward Integrated Value Chain and Landscape Governance’ (Ros-Tonen et al. 2018). This time, we focus specifically on spatial tools used to enhance multistakeholder engagement in integrated landscape governance to achieve greater inclusivity. With spatial tools, we mean mapping, 3D modeling, and place-based scenario-building processes employed to achieve governance or management objectives (McCall and Dunn 2012; Willemen et al. 2014). Participatory (geo)spatial tools such as participatory geographical systems (PGIS) and participatory mapping specifically aim to enhance stakeholder engagement and collaboration on spatial questions while empowering the least powerful among them by uncovering their views and claims (Ros-Tonen et al. 2021, this issue). The paper by Ros-Tonen et al. situates the use of participatory spatial tools in debates on integrated landscape governance and inclusive development. In doing so, the authors add some critical notes and warnings regarding the inclusivity, representativity, ethics, and safety in using these tools. The forum paper highlights the drivers that caused the growing use of participatory spatial tools in landscape governance and argues that further research is needed to broaden the scope of applying the tools, strengthen inclusivity in the processes, and develop new technologies to improve their applicability in landscape governance. Illustrative for holistic landscape approaches are forest landscape restoration (FLR) projects. Djenontin et al. (2021, this issue) present a categorization of such projects, which they apply to five FLR projects in sub-Saharan Africa. They show how FLR projects aim to reconstruct degraded nature into multifunctional landscapes for the continued provision of sustainable livelihoods, biodiversity conservation, and ecosystem services while offering guidance for the design of future FLR projects. None of the reviewed projects applied spatial tools in the identification, implementation, or evaluation stage, which the authors signal a missed opportunity to engage actors in restoration efforts. The remaining papers examine the use of participatory or participatorily used spatial tools in various contexts. Four papers show how scenario development, combined with participatory mapping and other spatial tools, can be used for multi-stakeholder negotiation on common concerns, desired future landscapes, and actions needed to achieve those. Shantiko et al. (2021, this issue) do so to engage local stakeholders in land-use planning in Indonesia. Their participatory prospective analysis (PPA) helps stakeholders