Restoring forest landscapes is critical in the face of continued global forest loss and degradation. In this article, we explore some challenges underlying the delivery of global commitments to restore forest landscapes. We propose that three fundamental questions need to be resolved upfront for the effective implementation of Forest Landscape Restoration and related commitments: (1) What social and ecological landscape objectives are being sought through Forest Landscape Restoration? (2) How are specific areas being selected for restoration? (3) How is success measured when restoring forest landscapes? We believe that there is an urgent need to adequately answer these questions to successfully implement political commitments for large‐scale forest restoration.

Natural resource management literature has documented three paradigm shifts over the past decade: from co-management to adaptive co-management and adaptive governance respectively and, more recently, towards landscape governance. The latter is conceived as a governance approach towards negotiated land use at the landscape level to deal with global challenges such as food insecurity, climate change and biodiversity loss. There is not a lot of clarity about how co-management systems could actually evolve into landscape governance. This paper aims to address the gap by exploring how a stalled co-management system for the reforestation of degraded forest areas-the modified taungya system (MTS) in Ghana-could be revitalised and redesigned as a landscape approach. Drawing on case studies and expert consultation, the performance of the national MTS and the MTS under the Community Forestry Management Project is reviewed with regard to five principles (integrated approach, multi-stakeholder negotiation, polycentric governance, continual learning and adaptive capacity) and three enabling conditions (social capital, bridging organisations and long-term funding) distilled from the literature. The authors conclude that some of these principles and conditions were met under the OPEN ACCESSForests 2014, 5 2997Community Forestry Management Project, but that continual learning, transcending jurisdictional boundaries, developing adaptive capacity, and long-term funding and benefits still pose challenges.

Value chain analyses have focused mainly on collaboration between chain actors, often neglecting collaboration “beyond the chain” with non-chain actors to tackle food security, poverty and sustainability issues in the landscapes in which these value chains are embedded. Comparing conventional and advanced value chain collaborations involving small-scale cocoa farmers in Ghana, this paper analyzes the merits of a more integrated approach toward value chain collaboration. It particularly asks whether advanced value chain collaboration targeting cocoa-producing areas potentially offers an entry point for implementing a landscape approach. The findings detail current chain actors and institutions and show how advanced value chain collaboration has a greater positive impact than conventional value chain collaboration on farmers’ social, human and natural capital. The paper concludes that the integrated approach, focus on learning, and stable relationships with small-scale farmers inherent in advanced value chain collaboration makes it both more sustainable and effective at the local level than conventional approaches. However, its scope and the actors’ jurisdictional powers and self-organization are too limited to be the sole tool in negotiating land use and trade-offs at the landscape level. To evolve as such would require certification beyond the farm level, partnering with other landscape stakeholders, and brokering by bridging organizations.

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Purpose This paper aims to examine the factors that influence rural women’s participation in Village Savings and Loans Association (VSLA) and the savings contribution in the Kassena-Nankana West District of Ghana. The study also analysed the impact of VSLA participation on off-farm income and on poverty. Design/methodology/approach In total, 120 rural women were selected for this study. The probit and heteroskedasticity linear regression models were used to examine the factors that influence VSLA participation and the savings made by members, respectively. The propensity score matching technique, coupled with Rosenbaum Sensitivity analysis, were used to analyse the impact of VSLA on off-farm income and poverty. Findings Demographic and livelihood factors such as human, natural, financial, physical and social capitals have different influences on the participation and the savings contribution in the VSLA. Moreover, VSLA has a significant impact on off-farm income; however, it did not affect poverty. Originality/value Despite the numerous studies on VSLA, there is little evidence of literature of its impact on off-farm income of rural women in West Africa, specifically, Ghana. Thus, this paper expands the frontiers of the existing literature on VSLA impact assessment and the factors that influence the savings made by women in the association.