- The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration named seven initiatives from across the globe as UN World Restoration Flagships.
- The Regreening Africa initiative, which put 350,000 hectares under restoration in eight sub-Saharan African countries between 2017 and 2023, was named as one such flagship.
- The initiative plans to restore five million hectares by 2030 with additional investment, using a community-centred and research-based agroforestry and sustainable land management approach. Following its recognition as a flagship, it will now be eligible for technical and financial UN support as well as seeking other investments in this ambitious quest.
NAIROBI, 14 February 2024 – Ecosystems at the tipping point of outright degradation have been given a boost with the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration)’s designation yesterday of seven initiatives from across the globe as UN World Restoration Flagships, which they dub the “world’s most successful examples of healing the planet.”
Regreening Africa, a partnership led by the Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF) and including CARE Nederland, Catholic Relief Services, Oxfam, Sahel Eco, and World Vision Australia, with investment from the European Union in its first phase was one of the initiatives named as a flagship.
The initiative operated between 2017 and 2023 to engage with more than 600,000 households and brung over 350,000 hectares under restoration in Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, and Somalia. Its approach was based on proven agroforestry techniques that were adapted to suit the needs of farmers under varying socio-ecological contexts.
Multiple restoration practices, such as tree-growing through planting and grafting and farmer-managed natural regeneration (FMNR), were combined with soil and water conservation, and policy and value chain interventions. This range of options ensured that the restoration suited local conditions and needs, rather than taking a ‘one size fits all’ approach. Looking forward, Regreening Africa aims to bring five million hectares under restoration by 2030, in collaboration with local communities across Sub-Saharan Africa.
“It is an honour for Regreening Africa to be recognized as a flagship alongside such highly-regarded and impactful ecosystem restoration programmes from around the globe,” said Éliane Ubalijoro, chief executive officer of CIFOR-ICRAF.
“Restoration is absolutely foundational to addressing the interlinked crises we currently confront as a global community. Celebrating achievements to date, and supporting initiatives to further scale what works, is key to enabling the kind of action that’s needed to make meaningful impact.”
The accolade forms part of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration and allows the selected initiatives to access technical and financial UN support. “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,” Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP, said in a press release on 13th February.
“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.”
Learn about the other flagships here.
For more information, please contact:
Mieke Bourne, CIFOR-ICRAF scientist and former Regreening Africa Programme Manager: m.bourne@cifor-icraf.org
