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Committee on Mediterranean Forestry Questions - Silva Mediterranea

UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration

Addressing ecosystem degradation is critical to accomplishing the global objectives of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Rio Conventions and other global and regional initiatives. To support and scale up efforts to prevent, halt and reverse the degradation of ecosystems worldwide and raise awareness of the importance of effective ecosystem restoration, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), through resolution A/RES/73/2841 on 1 March 2019, declared 2021-2030 as the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (UN Decade). The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) are co-leading the implementation of the Decade worldwide, ensuring strong cooperation with countries, other UN agencies and partners. 

All ecosystems (urban, production, cultural, semi-natural and natural) have the potential to be restored. For the UN Decade, ecosystem restoration encompasses a wide continuum of activities ranging from reducing societal impacts to ecological restoration. It means that restoration can happen in many ways and that it is not always possible – or desirable – to return an ecosystem to its original state. In that case, the goal is to optimize ecosystem functions and services and improve management practices. 

The strategy of the UN Decade, launched in 2020, proposes three pathways needed to accomplish its mission:   

  • Pathway I: Creating a global movement to increase the intent of societies worldwide to restore degraded ecosystems on a large scale;   
  • Pathway II: Generating political support for restoration;   
  • Pathway III: Enhancing the technical capacities needed to effectively restore ecosystems at scale. 

 

An action plan for the operationalization of the UN Decade strategy was released in April 2023, after consultations with UN Decade partners and with the public. The plan proposes 31 challenges across 12 themes that will be jointly implemented by UN Decade partners. 

The structure of the UN Decade involves an Advisory Board of more than 30 global experts, a network of more than 250 partners and five Task Forces (on Best Practices, Finance, Monitoring, Science and Youth) that collectively mobilize efforts to support its mission. 

 

World Restoration Flagships 

Since the declaration of the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (UN Decade), it has been focused on encouraging countries to move from commitments to effective actions on the ground. To that end, the UN Decade has set up the World Restoration Flagships initiative, considered as the best or most promising examples of ecosystem restoration that reflect the Decade principles, and therefore, inspire others to undertake or accelerate effective ecosystem restoration.

To date, 17 Flagship initiatives have been awarded from which the FAO's Silva Mediterranea Secretariat and the Forest and Landscape Restoration Mechanism (FLRM), in collaboration with national and technical partners support the upscaling of the Restoring Mediterranean Forests flagship. 

 

Restoring Mediterranean Forests - A World Restoration Flagship
The Mediterranean basin is the world’s second-largest biodiversity hotspot, yet 16 percent of its forest species are threatened with extinction, in part due to prolonged drought, extreme heat waves and wildfires. The Flagship Restoring Mediterranean Forests, spearheaded by Silva Mediterranea , represents a substantial endeavor to address the degradation of forest ecosystems in one of the planet's most crucial biodiversity hotspots. Focusing on proactive forest management, the initiative aims to prevent wildfires and restore degraded habitats. Already, around 2 million hectares have been restored since 2017, with plans to restore 8 million by 2030, creating 50 000 green jobs in the process.  
 
Activities

Collection of effective good practices for post-fire restoration in the Mediterranean will provide a knowledge-sharing and learning opportunity for all stakeholders dealing with wildfire management in the region, showcasing all effective practices of post-fire restoration being used in the Mediterranean that can be replicated in different areas of the region and will set the basis for a regional momentum for collaboration on post-fire restoration. The activities of collecting good practices are developed with national counterparts and local communities, involving all relevant stakeholders, including youth and women, in the knowledge generation and learning process.