The 4 Returns Framework in Practice
A guidebook for holistic landscape restoration
4. Take collective action
Start implementing your landscape plan and create a long-term finance and business development plan.
Actions lead to results. Results are needed to make a positive impact but also to justify further investment, enabling more action, results, and impact. The purpose of this element is to ensure the implementation of the interventions in the 4 Returns landscape plan. This is all about mobilising the inspirational, financial, and human capital that will allow your plan to happen. And it’s about coordination between the various stakeholders. Visionary leadership should enable participatory approaches and effective decision-making.
Element 3 covered how to move from vision and planning to the action phase. This element is where the action starts. You’ll find deep dives into matters that become important in the action phase. The actions in your landscape restoration initiative depend on what your landscape needs, as outlined in the landscape plan. This section covers the most common themes and topics, but it’s not exhaustive. For guidance on other topics, browse this 4 Returns platform.
This section begins with the chapter Landscape finance, which delves into essential concepts and financing options for a sustainable landscape restoration programme, including investments, philanthropy, government funding, and payments for ecosystem services (PES).
The next chapter Carbon finance, targets carbon project developers looking to mix their projects into holistic landscape restoration programmes. It explains: the main rules of carbon project finance; its role in paying for environmental services; and its application in landscape restoration, within the 4 Returns Carbon Finance Framework.
Moving forward, in the chapter Regenerative business we explore regenerative business development practices in a landscape context, drawing insights from developers experienced in the 4 Returns Framework.
In the chapter Regenerative agriculture we trace its historical roots, outline core principles and practices, and examine areas of contention.
Lastly, the chapter Policy Influencing underscores strategies and actions for advocating policy changes within national, regional, or international networks, as integral components of holistic landscape restoration efforts.
The report, Towards financing large-scale, holistic landscape restoration in Europe: recommendations for EU policy actors to attain inspirational, social, natural, and financial returns, co-authored by a coalition of 19 environmental organisations, focuses on landscape finance as an approach for supporting holistic landscape restoration to aid the implementation of initiatives such as the European Green Deal.
A quick-start guide to fundraising for holistic landscape restoration projects, by Commonland, provides step-by-step guidance for developing a fundraising strategy for a HLR project.
The Carbon Quick Scan, created by Wetlands International, Commonland, and the Landscape Finance Lab in 2021, will help you decide whether it is worth delving deeper into a specific carbon initiative.
The 4 Returns Carbon Feasibility Study Report Template, developed by Commonland and Wetlands International in 2024, outlines the different aspects to take into account when assessing the feasibility of a carbon project as part of a landscape restoration programme and related activities.
The report Responsible use of carbon credits: how project developers can mobilise buyers, developed by Wetlands International, in collaboration with Commonland and the Landscape Finance Lab, and published by the VCM Global Dialogue in 2023, provides due diligence guidance to support more equitable voluntary carbon markets.
The Carbon Finance Framework, published by Wetlands International, Commonland, and the Landscape Finance Lab in 2024, structures your 4 Returns carbon project in line with the 5 Elements and integrates it within the landscape development process.
The report Landscape GHG Accounting Guidance: Developing landscape-scale carbon projects, co-authored by Wetlands International and Conservation International in collaboration with Commonland, the Landscape Finance Lab, and Silvestrum in 2024, guides the reader through the complexity associated with developing carbon projects at a landscape scale.
The 4 Returns landscape business model canvas
The MOOC 'A Business Approach to Sustainable Landscape Restoration' by the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM), Commonland, United Nations University Land Restoration Training Programme, Spanish National Research Council (CSIC-CEBAS), and Nova School of Business & Economics.
The MOOC 'Business Model Innovation for Sustainable Landscape Restoration' by the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM), Commonland, United Nations University Land Restoration Training Programme, Spanish National Research Council (CSIC-CEBAS), and Nova School of Business & Economics.
The MOOC 'Entrepreneurial Competencies for Landscape Restoration' by the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM), Commonland, United Nations University Land Restoration Training Programme, Spanish National Research Council (CSIC-CEBAS), and Nova School of Business & Economics.
The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) promotes the development and use of policy instruments in biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services.
The knowledge hub of the Global Landscapes Forum is a large database of resources on sustainable landscapes. This is a useful place to find the resources and evidence to help make your policy case stronger.
Policies that support forest landscape restoration (FLR) by IUCN describes a range of FLR-supportive policies, complemented by case studies from countries where FLR-supportive policy has had a positive impact.
The 4 Returns landscape business model canvas, created by Commonland in 2021, helps consider the landscape and business perspectives in developing a business model.
Envisaged outcomes
- Interventions included in the 4 Returns landscape plan are initiated. Implementation is tracked through generic and tailor-made key performance indicators (see Element 5). Stakeholder attention and momentum are ensured through a communications strategy.
- Landscape investment portfolios are created to attract finance and investments. These are used to raise funds that support landscape goals.
- Regenerative business case development. The outcome is achieved by sharing landscape investment projects with prospective funders including the private sector, governments, and philanthropists.