Landcare and inclusive agriculture: achieving socio-ecological balance to shape our future

There were 3 main components to the week:

1) Pre-Conference Training: 6 – 7 July 2026

What do undergraduate students from PNG, women village leaders from Vanua Levu, Māori leaders from Aotearoa, a First Nations knowledge holder from Cape York, and a researcher from Nanzan University in Japan, have in common? They came together to strengthen relationships, share experience and build confidence during two days of training led in partnership between Global Landcare and Fiji National University, FNU, College of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries on July 6 & 7, 2026.

Talanoa. Conversation and connection. Ground-up. Practical. Evidence-based.

These themes resurfaced across the week opened by the 2 days of training at Bonunaqwele Campus.

The training was planned collaboratively with FNU and led by Global Landcare’s Pamela Greet and Andrea Mason. Facilitators Shipra Shah from FNU and Lorena Sabino from the University of the Philippines Los Baños added further perspectives and energy. Thirty trainees were part of wider group of 48 participants representing 10 countries.

Participants were continually engaged. Panels, small-group activities and changing group combinations created opportunities for trainees to lead discussions, report back, analyse challenges and learn from each other.
Away from the training room, in Global Landcare’s Green Room, panelists and presenters not required in the training room could meet and discuss with their visiting colleagues. The Green Room was a second vital hub of exchange, learning and connection. So too the gathering hosted by Global Landcare at a local restaurant following the completion of training.
Importantly, the training looked beyond the two days. Structured reflection, mentoring opportunities and networking helped participants identify their next steps, creating connections that can grow beyond the event and contribute to the emerging SPEDI network.

July 7th 5.30pm Training Networking and Drinks hosted by Global Landcare

2) Conference Dates: 8th – 10th July 2026, FNU Namaka Campus, Nadi, Fiji

‘All Pacific peoples have an undeniable connection to their natural environment, resources, livelihoods, faiths, cultural values and traditional knowledge… we have a deep concern for and commitment to the need for urgent, immediate and appropriate action to combat the threat and impacts of climate change; biodiversity and habitat loss; waste and pollution; and other threats.’      (- 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent)   

The following two-day Conference substantially extended knowledge exchange and connections. Over 150 registrants, representing 69 organisations, participated across universities, government agencies, farmer groups, research bodies, civil society organisations and development partners. Participants came from Fiji, Australia, Bangladesh, Japan, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste and Tonga.

Australian Centre for International Research (ACIAR) and RMIT University support made this exchange possible, creating a conference where evidence and experience met. We expect partnerships forged can transition from conversations to practical, locally relevant action and change for farming communities.

Across the week, one message came through strongly: Landcare is more than a model for sustainable agriculture. It is a practical way of bringing research, extension and community knowledge together, supporting farmer-led learning and locally driven solutions.
 

3) Field Trips: 10th July 

Organised field excursions showcased community-led agriculture and natural resource management in Fiji.

1. Research to Practice: Sigatoka Valley (Full Day)
This full-day visit will travel to the Sigatoka valley and focus on the connection between agricultural research, extension, and on-ground practice. The program will include visits to the Ministry of Agriculture Sigatoka Research Station, the Taiwanese Technical Mission, and a Landcare farming community in Nakavika. Delegates will gain insight into how research, training, and extension are being translated into practical outcomes for farmers, with a focus on productivity, sustainability, and local adaptation.

2. Organic and Diversified Farming Systems: Sabeto Valley (Three-Quarter Day)
This visit will explore organic and diversified farming systems within the Sabeto Valley. Delegates will visit a mix of established and emerging farm enterprises, including the Bulachino site and a recently established farming operation. The visit will highlight approaches to soil health, crop diversification, and market-oriented production, and provide an opportunity to engage directly with farmers on the opportunities and challenges of transitioning to more sustainable systems.

3. Paddock to Plate 

An additional field visit took participants to Bulaccino Organic Farm in Nadi, a 30-acre organic farm producing a diverse range of fruit, vegetables, herbs, honey and other products that supply Bulaccino’s café operations. The visit provided an opportunity to tour the farm and learn about its integrated farm-to-table model, before enjoying lunch featuring fresh organic produce grown on the farm.

Background

How can we best shape our future in a world of increasing complexity? This will require dynamic and reciprocal collaborations that draw on diverse perspectives and people-centered responses. An integrated landscape management approach is needed, one that strikes a socio-ecological balance to engage communities and support strengthened institutional arrangements, whilst responding to emerging land, water, and climate challenges.

Tropical ecosystems host an incredible array of biodiversity found in diverse habitats that exist in contrasting land use types. Aside from their inherent ecological value, these ecosystems and their biodiversity also provide significant ecosystem goods and services, promoting economic and other livelihood opportunities. These ecosystems are the foundation of agricultural systems in these regions.

Despite the major benefits for humans of these ecosystem goods and services, ecosystem and landscape degradation by human activity and changes in land-use, climate, and population do compromise their ecological functioning. Using multiple lines of evidence and drawing on collective experience from multidisciplinary research work, focused on the tropical landscapes, we find that it is timely to come together on a platform to identify the major challenges and opportunities for translating research from these landscapes into better-informed choices for communities and supporting service providers. This way, we expect that the sharing and discussions in this conference will support a dialogue for the transformation of agricultural systems in tropical landscapes.

We invite and call upon interested researchers, policymakers, practitioners, and farmers to come together and share experiences in adopting a Landcare-LIFE or other locally developed Landcare approach working at the nexus of rural community livelihoods and the management of the landscape on which they depend in the Indo-Pacific region and across the globe.

What is Landcare and LIFE?

Landcare is based on the notion that caring for land and water is underpinned by the values of community empowerment and collective action for innovative solutions to natural resource management challenges. The model has origins in Australian communities in the 1980s that evolved to a fully-fledged national program that enjoyed bipartisan support from the Government. The spread of Landcare values and practices internationally has been supported by Global Landcare and its partners, but without any systematic coordination or scaling-up strategy to date. This organic spread may be due in part to the compatibility of the Landcare approach with existing programs and traditional community values.

LIFE (Livelihood Improvement through Facilitated Extension) is a model that draws on Landcare-based extension principles. The model evolved from ACIAR-supported research in the Philippines that highlighted how certain types of community-based extension principles can rapidly enhance agricultural livelihoods.

While the conference draws on Landcare and LIFE models, it also welcomes insights from other inclusive, participatory or community-led approaches to extension and natural resource management and Landcare-based or informed programs from around the globe.

Objectives of the Conference

1. Increase awareness of the importance of interdisciplinary research on agriculture and natural resource management to enhance sustainability and resilience across the Indo-Pacific region.
2. Showcase best practices for promoting evidence-based interdisciplinary research outputs (biophysical, social, economic) for sustainable landscape management in the Indo-Pacific region.
3. Provide an opportunity for global networking and knowledge exchange of interdisciplinary approaches across academics, partners, practitioners, and farmers that support livelihood improvement, climate adaptation, and biodiversity.
4. Create a sustainable platform for a livelihood-focussed transdisciplinary ag-extension network for Indo-Pacific exchange and learning, with global reach where appropriate.5