What will it take to restore 100 million hectares of land in Africa?
Land restoration aims to bring back ecological functionality to degraded ecosystems. It can be achieved by introducing or allowing trees to grow on landscapes and using sustainable land management techniques such as terracing steep hillsides, minimizing tillage and building structures to stop soil erosion. Curbing free-grazing of livestock and managing water also support land restoration.
At the farm and community levels, these methods have been shown to work, with some dramatic results. But how do you restore 100 million hectares of land in Africa in under two decades? This was the central question at the first Regional Conference of the African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative (AFR100) held in Addis Ababa, 11-12 October.
AFR100, an African-Union-endorsed, country-led initiative, seeks to trigger and support the restoration of 100 million hectares of degraded land in on the continent by 2030.
Visionary leadership will essential to reach the goal. In addition, resources will need to be secured, and coordinated action on the ground initiated and sustained. Continuous monitoring and adaptation will help tweak countries’ restoration activities along the way. And it will take time. Read more about the land restoration initiative AFR100.
About: AFR100 was launched in December 2015, during the Global Landscapes Forum at COP21 in Paris by representatives of participating African countries and a wide range of financial and technical partners (including (NEPAD, BMZ, World Bank, WRI and others;).
Prior to the launch, informal consultations with African technical staff working on FLR were held at the World Forestry Congress in September 2015 in Durban, South Africa. The African Union endorsed the 100 million hectares goal in October 2015. It was conceived as a partnership to boost the contribution of the African region to the Bonn Challenge and The New York Declaration on Forests, to the ARLI and other initiatives to restore deforested and degraded forest lands.