Landscape Exchange Week brings Proforesters and partners together to advance landscape collaboration

In June, colleagues from across Proforest's global offices came together in Brasília for our latest Landscape Exchange Week, one of a series of thematic Exchange Weeks that help strengthen collaboration, build technical excellence and ensure a shared strategic direction across the organisation. 

Exchange Weeks are an important part of how Proforest works. They bring together specialists from across our regions for an intensive week of learning, discussion and planning focused on a specific area of our work. Held periodically across themes including Production Landscapes, People, Climate, Nature, Data and Responsible Sourcing, these sessions provide dedicated space to share experiences, reflect on emerging challenges, align approaches and agree practical next steps that shape our work globally. 

This year's Landscape Exchange Week focused on strengthening our collective approach to Production Landscapes. Throughout the week, colleagues explored Proforest's strategic framing, area-based risk mitigation, social safeguards, monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV), resilience, legacy and the growing role of landscape finance in enabling long-term impact. Teams also exchanged practical experience from Landscape Jurisdictional Initiatives across different regions, sharing lessons on data collection, claims and social safeguards while deepening our collective understanding of how finance can support landscape delivery. 

One of the highlights of the week was a dedicated day to discuss existing financing mechanisms for Brazilian production landscapes, bringing together representatives from almost 20 partner organisations across finance, agribusiness, civil society and landscape initiatives. The discussions explored practical examples already underway, lessons learned, and the financial gaps that still need to be addressed to scale resilient landscape approaches. 

We are deeply grateful to all the partners who contributed their time, expertise and openness throughout the discussions. Their willingness to share experiences, challenge assumptions and openly discuss both successes and barriers created a rich learning environment that is helping to build a stronger community of practice around financing resilient landscapes and accelerate collective learning across the sector. 

Beyond the technical discussions, the week provided an opportunity to reflect on how far our landscape work has evolved over recent years. Bringing together colleagues and partners from different disciplines and regions reinforced the value of collaboration in tackling complex challenges and advancing practical solutions. The conversations and outcomes from the week will help shape the next phase of Proforest's landscape work while contributing to wider efforts to develop effective financing models for resilient production landscapes. The discussions have generated valuable technical insights, which we look forward to sharing in due course.