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Bonn Challenge: An approach to restore deforested and degraded land


Bonn Challenge is an international effort propelled by the Government of Germany and IUCN to restore 150 million hectares of world’s degraded and deforested land by the year 2020, and additional 200 million hectares by 2030. Later, it was endorsed and extended to 2030 by the New York Declaration on Forests of the 2014 UN Climate Summit. Currently, 56 governments, private associations and companies have pledged over 168 million hectares to the Challenge. The Bonn Challenge is not a new global commitment but rather a practical means of realizing many existing international commitments, including the CBD AichiTarget 15, the UNFCCC REDD+ goal, and the Rio+20 land degradation neutrality goal. It is an implementation vehicle for national priorities such as water and food security and rural development while contributing to the achievement of international climate change, biodiversity and land degradation commitments.

It is anticipated that restoration of 150 million hectares of deforested and degraded land in biomes across the world, in line with the forest landscape restoration approach (FLR) will create approximately USD 84 billion per year in net benefits that could bring direct additional income opportunities for rural communities. Moreover, reaching the 350 million hectare target will create about USD 170 billion per year in net benefits from watershed protection, improved crop yields and forest products, and could sequester up to 1.7 giga tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent every year.

Underlying the Bonn Challenge is the forest landscape restoration (FLR) approach. The main purpose of FLR is to restore ecological integrity at the same time as improving human well-being through multifunctional landscapes.


.Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR)

FLR is the ongoing process to restore ecological functionality and enhancing human well-being through deforested or degraded forest landscapes. It aims to meet present and future needs and to offer various benefits and land uses over time. Restoration opportunities mostly found on or adjacent to agricultural or pastoral land.

FLR occurs through different processes such as new tree plantings, managed natural regeneration, agroforestry or improved land management to accommodate a mosaic of land uses, including agriculture, protected wildlife reserves, managed plantations, riverside plantings etc.

Achievements to the Goal

The Bonn Challenge - Landscape restoration increased from11 participants in 2011 to 46 in 2018. In April 2018 the “Billion Tree Tsunami” project in Pakistan’s Hindu Kush mountain range restored nearly 350,000 hectares of deforested and degraded land and became the first to fulfill a pledge towards the Bonn Challenge. It was stated that the project has achieved its restoration target through a combination of protected natural regeneration and planned afforestation, and has established 13,000 private tree nurseries helping to boost local incomes, generating thousands of green jobs, and empowering unemployed youth and women in the province.

Tracking the progress of the initiative

IUCN and partners developed the Bonn Challenge Barometer of Progress that will assist countries track progress on their restoration interventions, publicise progress on commitments and unlock international support to address bottlenecks.

Stewart Maginnis, Global Director, Nature-Based Solutions Group, IUCN said that  “For the first time, governments have a consistent and systematised approach to track their leadership and successes in forest landscape restoration. IUCN is well placed to work with our state members to build the Barometer into a strong and inclusive solution that tracks progress, identifies blockages and unlocks support for restoration going forward,”. Know more about World Environment Day.


India and the Bonn Challenge

According to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) report of 2016, above 29 % of India‘s land (2011-2013) was degraded which 0.57% higher than the year 2003-2005.

At the COP-13 (2015), India also joined the voluntary Bonn Challenge pledge and had devoted to restore13 million hectares of degraded and deforested land by year 2020, and an additional 8 million hectares by 2030.  After the COP-14, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change also launched a flagship project under the global initiative called ‘Bonn Challenge.’ It aims to enhance India’s capacity for Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR). During the initial phase (3.5 years), it will be implemented in Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Nagaland and Karnataka. Later, it will ultimately be scaled up across the country through successive phases of project. The project will be implemented by MoEF&CC in corporation with International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

 

 

 

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