CITIZEN-SDSS: Guidelines for conducting co-design-scenario workshops in the Philippines

This document is part of the CITIZEN-SDSS project and provides guidance on how to conduct co-design scenario workshops with a focus on mosaic forest landscapes in the Philippines. CITIZEN-SDSS is focused on fostering nature-based solutions (NBS) for sustaining and expanding the remaining forest landscapes in the Philippines by integrating local stakeholder aspirations into land use planning through spatial decision support systems (SDSS). The Philippines, with only 24% of its forest cover remaining, faces severe threats from deforestation, degradation, and climate change, despite being a global biodiversity hotspot and a vital provider of ecosystem services and livelihoods. By focusing on the Philippines, the project addresses both urgent ecological risks and pressing socio-economic needs thus, safeguarding biodiversity, supporting local communities through NBS interventions such as agroforestry, forest restoration, assisted natural regeneration (ANR), riparian buffer restoration and other sustainable land management practices. Through Citizen Science approaches and spatiotemporal modelling, CITIZEN-SDSS develops context-sensitive, scientifically rigorous pathways for sustainable land and forest management, ensuring that decision-making processes are inclusive, locally grounded, and responsive to long-term environmental and livelihood priorities.