The Bonn Challenge is a global effort to restore 150 million hectares of the world's degraded and deforested lands by 2020 and 350 million hectares by 2030. It was hosted and launched by Germany and the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the stat ...

(IUCN) in

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

on 2 September 2011, in collaboration with the Global Partnership on Forest/Landscape Restoration and targets delivery on the

Rio Convention Rio Convention relates to the following three conventions, which were agreed at the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992. At the Earth Summit, the decision-making process was tailored to promote a sustainable planet for future generatio ...

s and other outcomes of the 1992

Earth Summit The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), also known as the Rio de Janeiro Conference or the Earth Summit (Portuguese: ECO92, Cúpula da Terra), was a major United Nations conference held in Rio de Janeiro from 3 ...

. As at 2013 over 20 million hectares of land had been pledged for restoration from countries including

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

El Salvador El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...

Rwanda Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by ...

, and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

, Costa Rica,

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

and Brazil have embarked on successful landscape restoration programmes. The IUCN estimates that fulfilling the goals of the Bonn challenge would create approximately $84 billion per year in net benefits that could positively affect income opportunities for rural communities. It is also estimated that a reduction of the current

carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalent bond, covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in a gas state at room temperature and at norma ...

emissions gap by 11-17% will be achieved by meeting the challenge.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ; , ; abbr. KP or KPK), formerly known as the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Northern Pakistan, northwestern region of the country, Khyber ...

pledge has the distinction of being the first sub-national pledge, the first pledge to be fully implemented, and the first pledge to be increased. 'Billion Tree Tsunami' is an initiative in that direction., The Bonn challenge will address the issue of economic security,

water security The aim of water security is to maximize the benefits of water for humans and ecosystems. The second aim is to limit the risks of destructive impacts of water to an acceptable level. These risks include too much water (flood), too little water (d ...

, food security and climate change. Landscape restoration through the Bonn Challenge augments international commitments to climate change. The restoration of 150 million hectares of the world's degraded and deforested lands by 2020 will help in sequestration of 1 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide which will reduce the current emission gap by 20%. The African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative fits within the Bonn Challenge and has a goal of having 100 million hectares in the process of restoring by 2030. 28 African countries have made a total commitment of 113 million hectares to the initiative. Ethiopia has made the largest single commitment with 1 million hectares. Ethiopian Prime Minister

Abiy Ahmed Abiy Ahmed Ali (; ; born 15 August 1976) is an Ethiopian politician who is the current Prime Minister of Ethiopia since 2018 and the leader of the Prosperity Party since 2019. He rose through the ranks of government via the Information Networ ...

announced in May 2019 that the country had set a goal of planting 4 billion trees in 2019 alone.

References

{{Reflist Forest conservation Forestry initiatives Reforestation

See also

References