The World Restoration Flagships, spanning 18 countries, showcase large-scale efforts to revive forests, grasslands, farms and coastlines, restore biodiversity and secure sustainable livelihoods
The UN has announced four new World Restoration Flagships under the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, recognising major global efforts to heal degraded ecosystems, boost community incomes and strengthen food security.
Led by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation and the UN Environment Programme (Unep), the World Restoration Flagship awards highlight the world’s most ambitious large-scale restoration efforts to halt land degradation and build healthier, more resilient agrifood systems.
Together, these initiatives contribute to a global goal of restoring one billion hectares of land — an area roughly the size of China. Since the awards began in 2022, 10 restoration flagships have been recognised, followed by seven in 2024, and three ocean-related initiatives earlier this year.
The four new projects span 18 countries across four continents, already restoring more than 500 000 hectares — an area nearly five times the size of Rome. By 2030, they aim to double that figure, rehabilitating forests, mountains, grasslands, farmlands, savannahs and coastal and freshwater ecosystems.
“These flagships show what is doable when people come together to reverse the impacts of climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution and waste,” the executive director of Unep Inger Andersen said in a statement.
“With the right investment, knowledge and care, even degraded ecosystems can be restored — delivering wide-ranging benefits like food security and sustainable livelihoods.”
Restoring Africa and Asia’s landscapes
One of the new flagships, The Restoration Initiative, spans Cameroon, China, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Pakistan, São Tomé and Príncipe and Tanzania.
Supported by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, Unep and the Global Environment Facility, the initiative works to overcome barriers to large-scale restoration, share expertise and attract investment.
“The initiative demonstrates how governments, communities and strategic partners can collaborate to restore ecosystems’ capacity to provide sustained food and water, harbour biodiversity and become climate resilient,” said Grethel Aguilar, the director general of the IUCN.
“It is a call to action for all stakeholders to scale up investment and ambition so that ecosystem restoration can underspin a just, nature-positive future.”
So far, the initiative has restored more than 310 000ha and improved management practices across another 717 000ha. More than 420 000 people have directly benefited, while more than 30 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent have been mitigated — roughly the annual emissions of eight coal-fired power plants.
By 2030, the programme aims to restore a further 160 000 hectares through activities such as establishing nurseries; training farmers and pastoralists; removing invasive species and influencing national policy reforms.
Reclaiming Jordan’s rangelands
In Jordan, the Collaborative Rangelands Restoration project has transformed potential conflict into partnership.
“When plans were drawn up to establish the country’s first botanic garden at Tel al-Rumman, north of Amman, ecologists discovered that the mountainous forest was already grazed by 4 500 sheep and their herders,” the Unep said.
Rather than displace them, the Royal Botanic Gardens chose to collaborate with these communities. Together, they are reviving sustainable grazing practices and restoring 180ha hectares of land to showcase Jordan’s unique plants and ecosystems.
Biomass production has increased more than eightfold, grazing days have multiplied seven times, and herders’ incomes have more than doubled — with the number of participating families growing tenfold.
This “participatory model shows how science and traditional knowledge can work hand in hand”, drawing on generations of expertise in rangeland management, livestock care and medicinal plant use to rebuild biodiversity while sustaining livelihoods.
Healing Korea’s burned forests
In the Korea, another flagship focuses on restoring the site of one of the country’s worst ecological disasters — the 2022 Uljin forest fire, which burned more than 20 000ha in just 10 days.
The Uljin Restoration Flagship aims to rehabilitate the damaged forests while strengthening community resilience. The programme prioritises reintroducing native species such as the endangered spike rosebay and restoring the habitat of the long-tailed goral, a small mountain-dwelling mammal. All the fire-damaged areas are expected to be restored by 2030.
“Korea’s approach is distinctive — rather than prioritising commercially valuable tree species, the government is focusing on biodiversity recovery and community involvement. In response to the fire, the country established the Baekdudaegan Native Plant Seed Supply Center — home to the world’s second major ‘doomsday’ seed vault.”
Complementing Norway’s Svalbard Global Seed Vault, which focuses on crops, Korea’s facility preserves wild plant and tree seeds to support ecological recovery from future disasters.
Bamboo: Nature’s healer
Across nine countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America, bamboo is being used as a powerful tool for restoration. The Bamboo-based Restoration initiative, led by the International Bamboo and Rattan Organisation, harnesses the fast-growing plant to reverse the effects of overgrazing, deforestation and climate change.
Bamboo is being harnessed as a fast-growing, sustainable plant for land restoration, reversing the impacts of intense agriculture, logging, demand for fuel wood and charcoal and climate change.
Bamboo-based restoration supports both people and wildlife — from bamboo lemurs and gorillas to the giant panda — by storing carbon, restoring land and creating sustainable livelihoods. The initiative has already restored about 200 000ha and improved incomes for a similar number of people.
By 2030, it aims to attract investment to restore an additional 300 000ha through policy harmonisation, multi-sector collaboration, respect for indigenous rights and the careful selection of bamboo species from the world’s 1 600 varieties to build sustainable value chains.
“Bamboo is a very valuable resource, which can help solve environmental problems such as deforestation and soil erosion, among others, coupled with socio-economic development for farmers and job creation for women, youth and marginalised communities,” said Stuart Maniraguha, the executive director of the National Forestry Authority in Uganda.
The UN said that, through the World Restoration Flagships, it is recognising “real progress and transparency”, with each initiative monitored through the Framework for Ecosystem Restoration Monitoring platform.