Restoring the health of our planet has never been more urgent. Halting and reversing the loss of nature is critical to tackling the climate and biodiversity crises and building a sustainable, resilient future for all. Through a number of global multi-environmental agreements, such as conventions and treaties, the international community is taking a stance to bend the curve on nature loss, yet a number of drivers continue to drive nature destruction.
The UN has declared 2021-2030 the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. Ecosystem restoration is an important nature-based solution that addresses several societal challenges, including livelihoods and climate change. In Africa, 32 countries have so far pledged to bring 128 million hectares under restoration by 2030 as part of the country-led African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative (AFR100) initiative. Now is the time to speed up action on these commitments and scale up implementation.
WWF has been working for decades on forest landscape restoration around the world and coordinates work with a wide range of partners, from national governments and private sector companies to Indigenous peoples and local communities, as well as working closely with the AFR100 Secretariat. WWF is a technical partner in the AFR100 Secretariat and a member of the AFR100 management team.
The event will serve as the launch of WWF’s Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR) in Africa initiative, an ambitious multi-country effort to kickstart the restoration of 13.5 million hectares of degraded and deforested landscapes across nine countries by 2027. In partnership with AUDA-NEPAD/AFR100 Secretariat, the Commonwealth Secretariat and RESTOR, the event will feature high-level government officials and partners.
The event will be held in the Panda Pavilion in the Blue Zone at COP27, and will also be livestreamed on our YouTube channel.