Image
Montreal, 13 December 2022 – The United Nations has recognized an initiative to restore 300,000 ha of drought-stricken Central American farmland and forests as one of 10 pioneering efforts to revive the natural world.
The UN designated the push, which is designed to counter a wave of food insecurity, as one of its inaugural World Restoration Flagships. These initiatives, which are eligible to receive UN support, funding or technical expertise, showcase how environmental advocates are mending damaged ecosystems across the planet. Human activity has significantly altered three-quarters of the Earth’s land and two-thirds of its marine environment, pushing 1 million species towards extinction.
The announcement came as leaders gathered in Montreal, Canada for the UN Biodiversity Conference, where governments from around the world will agree to a new set of goals for nature over the next decade. Talks are expected to include a potential global target for ecosystem restoration.
Across swathes of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama a prolonged drought has devastated farms, plunged families into poverty, triggered a wave of migration and left millions of people facing food insecurity. But efforts are now underway across much of this area, known as the Central American Dry Corridor, to restore farmland blighted by failing rains, which have been linked to the climate crisis. Farmers are growing trees on once-deforested land, which helps trap moisture in the soil and shield crops from the sun and, occasionally, powerful rainstorms. Advocates are hoping to restore 300,000 ha using this strategy, known as agroforestry, and other sustainable agriculture practices by 2030.
The effort and other flagship initiatives were selected under the banner of the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, a global movement coordinated by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). It is designed to prevent and reverse the degradation of natural spaces across the planet.
Lucrecia Rodriguez Peñalba, Executive Secretary of the Central American Agricultural Council (CAC), explained: “The Flagship initiative will contribute to the rehabilitation and conservation of forested areas, the establishment of biological corridors through the adoption of resilient agroforestry and silvopastoral systems, supporting the transformation of agricultural areas through sustainable low-carbon practices, increasing productivity, and promoting land degradation neutrality in the Dry Corridor.”
UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen said: “The climate crisis is having a devastating impact on people around the world, in particular marginalized communities. We all know that climate change is here now and is only going to get worse. It is critical that we step up our efforts to adapting to a climate changing world. The work being done in the Central American Dry Corridor, a World Restoration Flagship, shows that creative, natural solutions can help the most vulnerable people adapt to these difficult times.”
Qu Dongyu, Director General of the FAO, said: “FAO, together with UNEP, as co-lead of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, is pleased to award the 10 most ambitious, visionary and promising ecosystem restoration initiatives as 2022 World Restoration Flagships. Inspired by these flagships, we can learn to restore our ecosystems for better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life for all, leaving no one behind.”
Countries have already promised to restore 1 billion hectares – an area larger than China – as part of their commitments to the Paris climate agreement, the Aichi targets for biodiversity, the Land Degradation Neutralitytargets and the Bonn Challenge. However, little is known about the progress or quality of this restoration. Progress of all 10 World Restoration Flagships will be transparently monitored through the Framework for Ecosystem Restoration Monitoring, the UN Decade’s platform
Originally published on decadeonrestoration.org