Ecosystem Stewardship Framework

Description

Will Ruddick:

"The Ecosystem Stewardship Framework is a holistic, community-driven approach that integrates landscape restoration, traditional ecological knowledge, decentralized resource flows and coordination, and participatory action to regenerate ecosystems on a long term approach. This framework is designed to ensure that restoration efforts are not only ecologically effective but also socially and culturally relevant and sustainable as well as nourished by an economy based on reciprocity amongst people and respect of nature’s cycles.

Building upon traditional local stewardship frameworks such as Mweria (reciprocal labor systems) and Dhome (community governance), we enhance these time-tested practices with cutting-edge tools like the Sarafu Network and the Commitment Pooling Protocol. By weaving scientific land-use planning and feasibility studies, watershed mapping and community-driven resource coordination and action planning, this collaboration transforms territorial management into a dynamic, participatory, and economically viable system, where landscapes are restored in alignment with both environmental integrity and local governance structures."

(https://grassecon.org/sarafu-reports)

Characteristics

Will Ruddick:

Spatially Informed Landscape and Watershed Design

"Landscape and watershed design ensure that ecosystem restoration is not just a localized effort but part of a broader, interconnected ecological system. Through spatially informed decision-making, we integrate GIS mapping, participatory land-use planning, and traditional water conservation techniques to analyze terrain, assess watershed flows, and identify critical areas for intervention. This approach helps prevent erosion, soil degradation, and water scarcity while enhancing ecosystem resilience and long-term land productivity.

Using holistic land management strategies applies participatory action around syntropic agroforestry, soil regeneration techniques, and advanced water retention systems such as swales, check dams, and infiltration basins. These techniques enhance soil fertility, optimize water capture, and regenerate biodiversity, ensuring that landscapes become self-sustaining and climate-resilient.

The framework emphasizes bioregional cohesion, recognizing that local farms, forests, rivers, and watersheds are interconnected components of a larger living system. By designing spatially informed restoration plans, we ensure that agricultural lands, natural ecosystems, and water resources are integrated into a unified, regenerative landscape that supports both nature and local households' wellbeing."

(https://grassecon.org/sarafu-reports)

Traditional Knowledge & Commons-Based Stewardship

Collaborating with communities to revive Mweria, a rotational labor exchange system, allowing groups to collectively work on farms, plant trees, restore watersheds, and implement soil conservation techniques .Through Dhome, a visionary approach to community action planning and community-led decision-making structure, local groups gather to co-create visions, land-use plans, establish stewardship agreements, allocate resources fairly, and resolve disputes, reinforcing commons-based decisions and actions

We also ensure that traditional farming methods, and indigenous seed sovereignty are actively protected. This includes planting, reproducing, conserving and documenting and sharing the relevance and uses of native plant species, to enhance local biodiversity, food security and plant wisdom."

(https://grassecon.org/sarafu-reports)

More information

• The Sarafu Network & the Commitment Pooling Protocol: "The Sarafu Network platform enables local exchange and participatory resource coordination as well as collaboration between groups. This system transforms environmental restoration into a recognized collective resource, ensuring that land stewards are rewarded for their ecological contributions and commitment to work collaboratively and support each other." [1]