Nature staging a comeback
UN recognises World Restoration Flagships
THE UNITED NATIONS Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN (FAO) have named seven initiatives from Africa, Latin America, the Mediterranean, and South Asia as UN World Restoration Flagships.
The initiatives include ecosystems at the tipping point of outright degradation resulting from wildfires, drought, deforestation, and pollution. They are now eligible for technical and financial UN support.
“The World Restoration Flagship awards are part of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration – led by UNEP and FAO – which aims to prevent, halt, and reverse the degradation of ecosystems on every continent and in every ocean. The awards track notable initiatives that support global commitments to restore one billion hectares – an area larger than China,” noted a February 13 release from UNEP.
The winning initiatives are announced ahead of the sixth session of the UN Environment Assembly, the world’s highest-level decision-making body for matters related to the environment, taking place from February 26-March 1 at UNEP headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya.
Together, the seven new flagships are expected to restore nearly 40 million hectares − an area almost 600 times the size of Nairobi − and create around 500,000 jobs.
“For too long, economic development came at the expense of the environment. Yet today we see global efforts to usher in a comeback for nature,” said Inger Andersen, executive director of UNEP.
“These initiatives show how we can make peace with nature, put local communities at the heart of restoration efforts and still create new jobs. As we continue to face a triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste, now is the time we must double down and accelerate restoration initiatives,” she added.
The World Restoration Flagships are chosen as the best examples of ongoing, large-scale and long-term ecosystem restoration by the Task Forces for Science and Best Practices of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration and approved by its Executive Board. Selection follows a thorough review process with over 60 indicators and criteria, embodying the 10 Restoration Principles of the UN Decade.
“FAO is pleased to recognise these seven worthy champions, proving that we can offer the leading examples to reverse ecosystem degradation at scale, while also addressing the impacts of the climate crisis and biodiversity loss,” said FAO Director-General QUDongyu. *
In 2022, the inaugural ten World Restoration Flagships were recognised as part of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, to be followed with similar efforts every two years until 2030. This year’s World Restoration Flagships are part of an accelerated investment in nature by governments and private donors, notably reflected in US$1.4 billion provided last year by the Global Environment Facility Council.
Each of the seven World Restoration Flagships is being announced in video messages shared on UN social media channels by a UN or UNEP Goodwill Ambassador or Advocate, including actors Dia Mirza, Jason Momoa, and Edward Norton, chef Leyla Fathallah, and supermodel and best-selling author Gisele Bündchen.
They include the ‘Regreening Africa’ initiative that has been using proven agroforestry techniques, adapted to suit the needs of farmers under varying socio-ecological contexts in the past two decades, to restore over 350,000 hectares in Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, and Somalia.