With little attention from the media, the UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration was launched on June 5th. The aim of this action is to involve all nations of the world in acting to protect farmland, forests, grasslands, peatlands and mangroves which are subjected to ever-increasing degradation. Governments, the private sector and civil society have 10 years, until 2030, to restore 350 million hectares of degraded landscapes.
It is a long and lasting commitment that is badly suited to the short attention spans of politics. The United Nations, as published on the 4per1000 Initiative website, has launched a global online survey to take stock of existing capacity to restore ecosystems called “Taking Stock of Global Capacity for Ecosystems Restoration”. This survey was jointly developed by a coalition of 38 organizations, under the leadership of the FAO. It will be a kind of snapshot to identify what and whose capacities need to be enhanced to achieve the goals of the Decade.
A long march always starts with a first step, and so we hope that this decade will see a real commitment by governments and institutions and that they will take seriously what the young people of Fridays For Future have been shouting about for some years now right across the world.