The Forest and Landscape Restoration Mechanism

Regional

Regional and sub-regional initiatives on forest and landscape restoration (FLR) are currently underway in Latin America, Africa, Asia Pacific and the Mediterranean. They all contribute to the achievement of the Bonn Challenge, which aims to restore 350 million hectares (ha) by 2030.

These regional or subregional initiatives and dynamics emerged with the support of key partners involved in the Global Partnership on Forest and Landscape Restoration (GPFLR) such as FAO, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the World Research Institute (WRI) or the Global Mechanism of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). They support the implementation of national FLR efforts at the most relevant scale to:

  • develop collaboration between countries with the same ecosystems and/or FLR issues;
  • promote knowledge-sharing on good practices, monitoring tools and guidelines; and
  • mutualize both human and financial resources by building relevant alliances between technical/financial partners.

The Forest and Landscape Restoration Mechanism (FLRM) is officially involved in several key regional dynamics:

  • The African Restoration Initiative 100 (AFR 100), launched during the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 21) in Paris, aims to bring 100 million ha of degraded forest landscapes into the process of restoration by 2030. In partnership with the Regional Office in Accra (RAF), the FLRM is providing a direct support to the Secretariat of this regional initiative, hosted by the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), with financial resources (e.g. the Technical Cooperation Project led by RAF and the International Climate Initiative (IKI)/German Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety (BMU) projects led by the FLRM) and provision of targeted technical assistance. This support is mainly focused on monitoring frameworks and resource mobilization efforts with the preparation of multiple Global Environment Facility (GEF) and Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF) projects in Africa, as well as capacity-building workshops on the preparation of Green Climate Fund (GCF) bankable projects.
  • The pan-African program was launched in 2007 by the African Union and named the Great Green Wall of the Sahara and the Sahel Initiative (GGWSSI). Its goal is to reverse land degradation and desertification in the Sahel and Sahara, boost food security and support local stakeholders to adapt to climate change. In this subregion, the support from the FLRM is mainly funded by two projects funded by the French Facility for Global Environment and the IKI/BMU. The GGWSSI regional component of the IKI project named “The Paris Agreement in action: upscaling forest and landscape restoration to achieve Nationally Determined Contributions” was launched in Africa during the last session of the African Forestry and Wildlife Commission, organized by FAO in South Africa in early March 2020. Several capacity-building events were planned by the end of 2022 on: (i) Assisted Natural Regeneration, (ii) the preparation of bankable projects (GCF, Land Degradation Neutrality Fund [LDNF], etc.) and (iii) costs and benefits of FLR.
  • The “Agadir Commitment” has been adopted on the occasion of the fifth Mediterranean Forest Week held in Agadir (Morocco) in March 2017. This Mediterranean initiative is coordinated with the support of the Secretariat of the Committee on Mediterranean Forestry Questions-Silva Mediterranea and is currently funded with resources of the IKI project named “The Paris Agreement in action: upscaling forest and landscape restoration to achieve NDCs”. The following actions have been recently implemented in this region:
    • the organization of the Sixth Mediterranean Forest Week (6 MFW) held from 1 to 5 April 2019 with, as a key result, the adoption of the Brummana Declaration for the role of Mediterranean Forests to fulfil nationally determined contributions (NDCs);
    • the launching event of the IKI project regional component for the Mediterranean (1 April 2019), co-organized by FAO and the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) with the presentation of the national work packages for Morocco and Lebanon and a more detailed discussion on the three regional work packages for the Mediterranean;
    • the provision of targeted technical assistance on the revision of the NDCs and the preparation of Green Climate Fund projects in Lebanon and Algeria based on requests received in 2019; and
    • the organization of the first regional capacity-building event on the preparation of bankable projects for submission to GCF or LDNF (Barcelona, Spain, from 4 to 8 November 2019) co-organized by FAO, UfM and the Global Mechanism of the UNCCD.
  • An Asia-Pacific regional Strategy and Action Plan on FLR was approved in October 2017 during a session of the Asia-Pacific Forestry Commission (APFC) held in Colombo, Sri-Lanka. In partnership with the regional office in Bangkok (RAP) and the subregional office in Apia (FAOSAP), the FLRM is providing direct support to the implementation of this regional strategy and action plan with resources from the IKI project named “The Paris Agreement in action: upscaling forest and landscape restoration to achieve NDCs”. The following actions have been recently implemented in the Pacific Islands region:
    • the organization of a regional workshop on FLR with the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Secretariat and the Pacific Community (SPC) in Nadi, Fiji, from 28 to 31 May 2019 (a regional exchange on forest ecosystem and landscape restoration for Pacific Islands); its objective was to explore future FLR pledges in the context of the Bonn Challenge and to mainstream FLR options in the context of the implementation of the Paris Agreement;
    • technical support to a side event on FLR during the Agriculture and Forest Ministerial meeting held by the Pacific Community (SPC) in October 2019 in Apia, Samoa;
    • the launch of the Technical Assistance Facility in the Pacific Islands with, at this stage, the provision of targeted supports focused on two requests received from the governments of Vanuatu and Fiji:
      • the review of Vanuatu’s FLR Strategy and its alignment with the national REDD+ Strategy and the Nationally Determined Contribution under the Paris Agreement; and
      • the finalization of a GCF concept note on Climate Resilient Forests, Communities and Value Chains in Fiji.