Restoration efforts are working, but we need to move faster to meet targets, says U.N. report

This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: A U.N. report finds that 252 million hectares (ha) (623 million acres) across 149 countries are being restored, creating more than 1 million green jobs—the largest documented global restoration effort to date. To reach 2030 commitments, action must rapidly increase, with a particular focus on freshwater, marine and coastal ecosystems, and annual restoration finance must more than quadruple.

This investment could generate an estimated 32 million new jobs worldwide by 2030. The report, "Nature's comeback—scaling ecosystem restoration for people and planet", is published midway through the U.N. Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021–2030).

It provides the first comprehensive global assessment of progress against commitments to restore around 1 billion hectares (2.47 billion acres) and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework target to ensure that by 2030, at least 30% of degraded terrestrial, freshwater, marine and coastal ecosystems are under effective restoration. Co-published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the report was launched at a high-level event during the U.N.

Biodiversity Conference (COP17). The event recognized five outstanding initiatives in China, Colombia, Ethiopia, Italy and the United States as U.N. World Restoration Flagships—highlighting successful restoration drives around the world.

"Today, we are witnessing the makings of one of the largest movements for nature in recorded history," said Inger Andersen, executive director of UNEP. "Yet, at the halfway point of the U.N. Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, we are still not restoring nature at the scale or speed required.

By 2030, we must turn inspiring initiatives into systemwide action—shifting to restoration economies that protect what remains and restore what has been degraded." The global movement to restore nature extends beyond national programs to cities, schools, businesses and community initiatives. Since the start of the U.N. Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, its partnership network has grown to more than 300 organizations across all regions.