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In a world where biodiversity loss, climate change, and land degradation pose significant threats to our planet, ecosystem restoration has emerged as a key solution. The recent SBSTTA25 side event, held on October 16, 2023, provided a platform for experts and stakeholders to discuss the critical transition from commitment to the implementation of transparent and effective ecosystem restoration. Titled "Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework Target 2: From Commitment to Implementation of Transparent and Effective Ecosystem Restoration," the event was organized by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to address the challenges and opportunities in achieving the ambitious targets set by the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). With over 100 participants attending in a hybrid format, the event provided a platform to discuss the transition from making commitments to executing transparent and effective ecosystem restoration.

The urgency of effective ecosystem restoration

Ecosystem restoration is a key nature-based solution to multiple global crises, including biodiversity loss, climate change, and land degradation. With approximately 1 billion hectares of land committed to restoration efforts worldwide, the need for effective, transparent, and accountable restoration has never been more urgent. The event emphasized that while a significant amount of land has been committed to restoration, the focus must now shift to making these efforts both transparent and effective. To ensure that these ambitious commitments are met, there is a pressing need for transparent monitoring and reporting mechanisms that ensure transparency and accountability and can enable adaptive management.

To enable meaningful discussions on the path forward, the event featured presentations from experts in the field, each shedding light on critical aspects of ecosystem restoration and monitoring, including:

UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration: Natalia Alekseeva from UNEP, Coordinator of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, emphasized the importance of aligning the UN Decade with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) and highlighted the need for sustainable restoration and transparent monitoring.

From commitment to actionable target: CBD’s Jamal Annagylyjova discussed GBF Target 2, which aims to restore at least 30% of degraded ecosystems by 2030. She emphasized the need for clear strategies and the prevention of continuous degradation.

Monitoring GBF Target 2: FAO’s Julian Fox presented the "area under restoration" indicator and the importance of transparent monitoring, highlighting FAO's work under the UN Decade, including under the Task Force for Monitoring and the Framework for Ecosystem Restoration Monitoring (FERM).

Tracking restoration progress: IUCN’s Marine Deguignet presented IUCN's Restoration Barometer, highlighting its value as a data source for assessing national restoration efforts. It collects spatial data on restoration locations and aligns with global and regional restoration goals.The session was enriched by country experiences with Hannah Hudsen (UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) sharing insights on UK's environmental and biodiversity targets aligned to GBF Target 2, emphasizing their commitment to halting the decline in species abundance by 2030 and the 25 Year Environment Plan; and Wonyeong Song from Korea Forest Service presenting Republic of Korea's successful forest restoration initiatives related to GBF Target 2 and Korea’s improving forest coverage and ecosystem health, along with their commitment to sustainable forest management and international collaboration.

During the event, a dynamic Q&A session was held covering a range of topics, including defining degradation consistently, progress in restoring non-forest ecosystems, ensuring data quality and continuity in restoration initiatives, avoiding degradation, leveraging technology for monitoring, verification of restoration efforts and avoiding duplication, strategies for protecting diverse ecosystems, overcoming data challenges, and monitoring restoration for different national circumstances and national capacities. These discussions highlighted the complexity of restoration efforts and the need for international collaboration to address these critical issues.

Looking forward

The side event underscored the urgency of making restoration efforts transparent and effective as the mid-point of the 2030 Agenda and its sustainability goals approaches. Holding such knowledge exchange events is essential to share insights, address challenges, and ensure that the ambitious restoration targets under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework are successfully met. An important upcoming milestone in this endeavor is the forthcoming meeting slated for 22 – 24 November 2023, in Rome, dedicated to collaboratively working on the roadmap for GBF Target 2. At this gathering, stakeholders from across the globe will work together to align on terms and indicators necessary to meet the goals of Target 2. It is through these collective endeavors that we can aspire to conserve and restore the well-being of our planet's ecosystems for both people and climate.

Resources

The presentation and recording can be found here

The Roadmap for Target 2 is available here

Access the full text of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework here

CBD’s quick guides to Target 2 can be found here

GBF Target 2 Metadata for Area under Restoration is available here

Follow the CBD Forest Ecosystem Restoration Initiative on LinkedIn profile 

Learn more about the Task Force on Monitoring by checking the Briefing note here

We invite CBD Parties to visit the FERM: Registry, Geospatial Platform, and Search Engine

Explore additional information about the Task Force on Monitoring and FAO's work on GBF Target 2.

To join the Task Force on Monitoring please email us at [email protected].