Restoring forest landscapes

Bonn Challenge

In many countries, deforestation and the degradation of natural forest ecosystems are causing a substantial decline in the effectiveness of these ecosystems to store water, sequester carbon and protect against erosion. Accordingly, measures for the restoration and ecosystem-based adaptation of forests not only make a decisive contribution to climate change mitigation but also work to conserve biodiversity and support sustainable development.

In light of this, the German government and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) organised a ministerial conference in September 2011 to launch the Bonn Challenge. Participating nations set a goal to ensure the restoration of 150 and 350 million hectares of deforested and degraded forest landscapes by 2020 and 2030, respectively (New York Declaration on Forests).

Numerous countries have now pledged to participate. Already in 2017, pledges from countries and the private sector to rebuild forest landscapes stood at 150 million hectares, marking an important milestone. In 2021, pledges already amounted to over 210 million hectares in 61 countries.

IKI´s role

International Climate Initiative (IKI) supports projects that are piloting innovative approaches to forest ecosystem restoration, and developing measures and funding instruments that ensure the dissemination of these efforts.