In April 2004, CIFOR organized a meeting with its local host Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Extensión Agraria (INIA) and the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) to report on its research on the degraded forest lands of the Ucayali Region in the central Peruvian Amazon lowlands. But as CIFOR's Cesar Sabogal remarked, the meeting achieved much more than just merely reporting a set of research findings.

"The event could very well be held as a model for future partnership research. It was an extremely productive way of disseminating research results and getting stakeholders involved in defining research priorities and analyzing research results and implications," Sabogal said. Sabogal also said the meeting would go a long way towards fostering policy dialogues and the uptake of research results by decision makers.

Some 60 participants from over 20 organizations attended the workshop on degraded forests and forest rehabilitation. They included regional government representatives, members of farmers and indigenous organizations, national and international conservation and development non-governmental organizations, and research and educational agencies.

On the first day participants reported results from relevant research efforts and local experiences. However, the most significant achievements came out of the second part of the workshop when participants worked closely together.

People worked in groups to examine the degradation process, its causes and how they occur in certain areas. They also looked at the responses various actors had come up with, the results of these responses and the reasons for their success or failure.

Based on these discussions the groups formulated key conclusions, recommendations and proposals for immediate action in the Ucayali development strategy. These were then presented at a high-profile forum that included such major decision makers as the Director of the Directorate for Natural Resources of the Regional Government, and the Director of the Committee for Development of the Ucayali Region.

"The workshop suggested it was important to complete the land use classification process currently available for only a small part of the region," said Wil de Jong from CIFOR, and one of Sabogal's collaborators. "But even when it is completed it would be wrong to think of it as a substitute for land use decision making. After all, decisions about land use require a social and political process and should involve all relevant sectors."

Forest rehabilitation projects are extremely important, but they are only part of the response to forest degradation. Strengthening farmer organizations, improving land titling systems, clarifying the ownership status of forests or agroforestry plots and building environmental awareness are also crucial for forest rehabilitation.

A second workshop was held in the San Martin Region. In addition to ICRAF, CIFOR's partners included local NGO Centro de Desarrollo e Investigación de la Selva Alta (CEDISA), and INCAGRO, a government programme that promotes innovation and competition in the agricultural sector. Thirty six participants from 29 organizations discussed the main strategies and policy implications for the rehabilitation of degraded lands.

According to CIFOR's local consultant, Abel Meza, the use of ecological-economic land zoning as a key tool in planning and decision-making regarding land use again featured highly in the discussions. Meza said of particular importance was that, "although technologies for land rehabilitation seem to be more developed in San Martin Region, sometimes they are too complicated for farmers and very little extension work had been done."

Participants at both workshops agreed regional governments and institutions like the National Institute for Natural Resources and the Ministry of Agriculture should play a strong leadership role in promoting and implementing any forest legislation that includes rehabilitation of degraded lands. (CS, WDJ, AM, PS)