African countries to restore 100 million hectares of land by 2030

AFR100 will help to translate ambitious
commitments into action with support
from private sector investors,
foundations, development banks, and
bilateral and multilateral funders.
AFR100 will leverage a variety of
financing, including grants, equity
investments, loans, risk management
guarantees and funds for specific
interventions.
A PAN-African, country-led effort to
restore 100 million hectares (386
thousand square miles) of degraded and
deforested landscapes by 2030, has been
launched by African countries.
The project known as African Forest
Landscape Restoration Initiative (AFR
100) has been endorsed by the African
Union. So far 10 African countries have
agreed to join AFR100 and committed at
least 31.7 million hectares of land for
forest landscape restoration. AFR100
partners are earmarking more than USD
$1 billion in development finance and
more than $540 million in private sector
impact investment to support restoration
activities.
The announcement was made during the
Global Landscapes Forum at the
Conference of Parties (COP21) in Paris,
where forest landscape restoration is a
key ingredient of the global movement to
adapt to and mitigate climate change.
Commitments made through AFR100
build on significant climate pledges
made by many African countries to
support a binding global climate
agreement.
“Restoring our landscapes brings
prosperity, security and opportunity,”
said Dr. Vincent Biruta, Minister of
Natural Resources in Rwanda. “With
forest landscape restoration we’ve seen
agricultural yields rise and farmers in
our rural communities diversify their
livelihoods and improve their well-
being. Forest landscape restoration is
not just an environmental strategy, it is
an economic and social development
strategy as well.”
For the first time, AFR100 brings
together political leadership with an
ambitious package of financial and
technical resources to support a large-
scale forest landscape restoration effort
across Africa. Nine financial partners
and 10 technical assistance providers
have pledged support, led by the New
Partnership for Africa’s Development
(NEPAD Agency), Germany’s Federal
ministry for Economic Cooperation and
Development (BMZ), and the World
Resources Institute (WRI).
“The scale of these new restoration
commitments is unprecedented,”
said Wanjira Mathai, Chair of the Green
Belt Movement and daughter of
Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari
Maathai. “I have seen restoration in
communities both large and small across
Africa, but the promise of a continent-
wide movement is truly inspiring.
Restoring landscapes will empower and
enrich rural communities while
providing downstream benefits to those
in cities. Everybody wins. ”
The following countries have committed
31.7 million hectares to the AFR100
initiative: Democratic Republic of Congo:
8 million hectares; Ethiopia: 15 million
hectares; Kenya: committed, but
finalizing hectare target; Liberia: 1
million hectares; Madagascar:
committed, but finalizing hectare target;
Malawi: committed, but finalizing
hectare target; Niger: 3.2 million
hectares; Rwanda: 2 million hectares;
Togo: committed, but finalizing hectare
target and Uganda: 2.5 million hectares
AFR100 builds on the climate
commitments made by African countries.
So far, 13 of the INDCs (Intended
Nationally Determined Contributions)
submitted by African countries include
restoration, conservation of standing
forests, or “climate-smart” agriculture.
According to WRI analysis, following
through on the commitments would
cumulatively reduce emissions by 1.2 Gt
CO2eq over the next 10 years, or 36
percent of Africa’s annual emissions and
0.25 percent of global emissions.
“Restoration is really Africa’s gift to the
world,” said Dr. Andrew Steer, president
and CEO, World Resources Institute. “As
the world forges a climate agreement in
Paris, African countries— which bear the
least historic responsibility for climate
change— are showing leadership with
ambitious pledges to restore land. These
countries are well on their way to meet
the goal of restoring 100 million hectares
of land, which will help sequester carbon
and bring economic benefits to low-
income, rural communities. These
African leaders are turning their words
into action and making a real
contribution to respond to the global
threat of climate change.”
AFR100 recognizes the benefits that
forests and trees can provide in African
landscapes: improved soil fertility and
food security, greater availability and
quality of water resources, reduced
desertification, increased biodiversity,
green jobs, economic growth, and
increased capacity for climate change
resilience and mitigation. Forest
landscape restoration has the potential
to improve livelihoods, especially for
women. For example, 20 years ago,
women in southern Niger spent an
average of 2.5 hours daily collecting
firewood, which was scarce in the
degraded landscape. Now they prune on-
farm trees saving two hours a day, time
that can be spent on other income
generating activities.
Commitments announced through
AFR100 also support the Bonn Challenge,
a global target to bring 150 million
hectares of land into restoration by 2020
adopted in Germany in 2011, the New
York Declaration on Forests that extends
that challenge to 350 million hectares by
2030, and the African Resilient
Landscapes Initiative (ARLI), an
initiative to promote integrated
landscape management with the goal of
adapting to and mitigating climate
change. With these new partners, the
Bonn Challenge process has surpassed
the 100 m hectare mark, on track to
meet its goal well ahead of the 2020
target date.
AFR100 builds on a strong tradition of
successful forest landscape restoration in
Africa. In Ethiopia’s Tigray region, local
communities have already restored over
1 million hectares, making the land more
drought-resistant. In Niger, farmers have
increased the number of on-farm trees
across 5 million hectares of agricultural
landscapes, improving food security for
2.5 million people. AFR100 will provide
a forum for countries and communities
to share knowledge and resources to
achieve restoration at a greater scale.
AFR100 will help to translate ambitious
commitments into action with support
from private sector investors,
foundations, development banks, and
bilateral and multilateral funders.
AFR100 will leverage a variety of
financing, including grants, equity
investments, loans, risk management
guarantees and funds for specific
interventions.
So far, AFR100 partners have set forth
over USD $1 billion of development
financing: World Bank: USD $1 billion
in investment in 14 African countries by
2030, as part of the Africa Climate
Business Plan to support Africa’s climate
resilient and low carbon development;
Germany’s Federal Ministry for
Economic Cooperation and Development
(BMZ) is providing support for the
development of the AFR100 initiative.
Impact investors have already
earmarked USD $546.5 million for
restoration under AFR100: Ecoplanet
Bamboo: USD $175 million by 2020;
Sustainable Forest Investments –
Netherlands: USD $150m by 2030; Terra
Global Capital: USD $100 million by
2030; Green World Ventures: USD $65
million by 2020
Moringa Partnership: USD $56.5 million
by 2030; NatureVest (impact investment
arm of the Nature Conservancy) and
Permian Global
“Through AFR100, we expect to trigger
one of the largest investments in forest
landscape restoration the world has ever
seen,” said H.E. Dr. Gerd Müller, Federal
Minister for Economic Cooperation and
Development, Germany. “This
investment is vital for empowering local
communities to scale up the inspiring
restoration successes we’ve seen in
Africa over the last decade.”
In addition to new financing, a coalition
of organizations will provide technical
assistance on a wide range of activities,
including the mapping of restoration
opportunities, securing further
financing, and implementing restoration
efforts on the ground. Partners include
World Resources Institute (WRI), Clinton
Foundation, Deutsche Gesellschaft für
Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ),
Food and Agriculture Organization of
the United Nations (FAO), International
Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN),
Jane Goodall Institute (JGI), Kijani, New
Partnership for Africa’s Development
(NEPAD Agency), The Landscapes for
People, Food and Nature Initiative
(LPFN), and The Nature Conservancy
(TNC).