Tell what you do, and do what you tell!
Landscape projects have many stories to tell. Find a story that conveys your goals and vision!
Project activities define the content
Do meaningful project work and communicate about it!
Landscape projects are often rich in activity; the activity of wildlife, the changing of the seasons, the activity of workers, the lives of local communities. A rich canvas from which to capture beautiful content and create enthralling stories.
Don’t worry about always trying to present your project in the best light. The struggles that projects face can often provide some of the most captivating content. Give people your full story, the successes as well as the failures. Don’t be afraid to show your vulnerabilities. Exposing your vulnerabilities also gives you an opportunity to demonstrate how you cope in the face of adversity and can leverage the confidence people place in you and your project.
Discover inspiring storylines
The following storylines, from outstanding landscape projects, shall inspire you to find your own exciting storyline and to communicate about your project using different perspectives and thematic focuses.
Your project
- brings back life to eroded soils! John D. Liu, ecosystem restoration researcher, educator, and filmmaker has dedicated his life to sharing real-world examples of once-degraded landscapes newly restored to their original fertile and biodiverse beauty.
- re-greens degraded landscapes and deserts! HOMMES ET TERRE recuperates, restores and validates access to fertile ground through reforestation and agroforestry in a responsible and profitable way, based on equitable collaborations with local communities.
- restores rainforests and supports orangutans! Willi Smith found a way to re-grow clear cut rainforest in Borneo, saving local orangutans and creating a thrilling blueprint for restoring fragile ecosystems.
- helps highly endangered species to migrate with the help forest corridors! WeForestplants trees with the purpose of reconnecting remaining forest patches in agricultural landscapes.
- supports indigenous and local communities to protect their sacred land, while building the infrastructure for a non-destructive use of forest products! Fairventures Worldwide successfully offers reforestation with a fast-growing and locally adapted tree species as an alternative to oil palm and gold mining.
- helps to transition from conventional agriculture and farming practices towards biodiverse agro-forestry! Agenda Gotsch put together some of the most remarkable experiences in Syntropic Agriculture.
- supports local rural communities to regenerate their land with methods like farmer-managed natural regeneration! Tony Rinaudo winner of the Right Livelihood Award 2018 for demonstrating on a large scale how drylands can be greened at minimal cost, improving the livelihoods of millions of people.
- protects forest by using non-timber forest products (NTFPs) like wild cacao! Volker Lehmann discovered the valuable and exquisite wild cocoa from the Beni region in Bolivia and brought it to market while helping to create alternative income for local wild cocoa collectors.
- integrates smallholder farmers to scale up national reforestation efforts! Komazainvolves thousands of farmers in their decentralized reforestation program in Kenya.
- helps to restore one of the most threatened ecosystems: mangroves! Worldview International Foundation and the Thor Heyerdahl climate park is supporting large scale mangrove restoration.
… and the list goes on. What is your story about?
Does your project
- increase the sustainable production per hectare with diverse and multi-layered agroforestry systems?
- improve water storage and nutrient cycles?
- helps to increase and stabilize and of local and more sustainable economies?
- improve water storage and nutrient cycles?
- restores a more beautiful, more functional and resilient landscape, contributing to the well being of everyone, now and in the future?
- does interplanting in diseases susceptible mono-cultures with more native and locally adapted species?
- creates the needed habitats for multiple plants and animals, while creating the foundation for ecotourism?
- store the rain and humidity needed for all living organisms by planting trees?
There are thousands of more great examples. Learn from them and get inspired to tell your own vivid story.
Take away:
- Good project work is the foundation for exciting and lasting stories. Focus your communication on the relevant content.
- One project can have many complementary stories.
- Get inspired by existing projects and find our own unique story.
If you want to improve your own storytelling skills then please download our free “Storytelling Guide for Landscape Projects”
