Landscape Restoration Movement Approaches 50 Million Hectares With El Salvador and Costa Rica Commitments

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• Publié par: IUCN-Airbus-and-Plant-a-Pledge-Campaign
• Nombre de lectures: 25
• Langue: English

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Landscape Restoration Movement Approaches 50 Million Hectares With El Salvador and Costa Rica Commitments

PR Newswire LONDON, December 6, 2012

LONDON,December 6, 2012/PRNewswire/ --

The global movement to restore 150 million hectares of degraded and deforested land by 2020 - known as the "Bonn Challenge" - gains momentum at the UN Climate Talks in Doha today, as Costa Rica and El Salvador each commit up to 1 million hectares. The 50 million hectare mark - or one third of the target - is now within reach.

http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20121206/582242 Achieving the Bonn Challenge - launched inSeptember 2011in Bonn Germany by the Global Partnership on Forest Landscape Restoration (GPFLR) - would deliver a host of major benefits to humanity and the planet, such as improving food security, protecting biodiversity and benefiting people's livelihoods. Costa Rica and El Salvador are the latest in joining USA, Rwanda and the Brazilian Mata Atlantica Restoration Pact in making pledges.

"Governments and people are calling for achievable solutions to the major threats we face today, including climate change. TheBonnChallenge is a nature-based solution-which is why it is capturing the world's attention,"explains Julia Marton-Lefèvre, Director General of IUCN,which coordinates the GPFLR."While the progress so far has been wonderful, it is only through continued pledges like the ones byEl SalvadorandCosta Ricathat we can reach our global target."

With formal pledges now over 20 million hectares, a pre-pledge declaration of intent fromIndia of 10 million, and another 20 million in the pipeline from the Meso Am erican Alliance of Peoples and Forests, a staggering 50 million hectares of commitments is now within reach.

"Restoring 150 million hectares over the next 10 years could potentially close the 'emissions gap' by 11-17% andinject more than US$80billion per year into local and national economies,"according to Stewart Maginnis, Global Director of Nature-Based Solutions, IUCN.

Earlier this year, during the UN Sustainable Development "Rio +20" talks, more than one million people voted the Bonn Challenge as the second most important issue upon which heads of state should act. To harness this public appetite, Airbus and IUCN launched the Plant a Pledge campaign, which through an online petition empow ers all people to call on governments, landowners and communities to contribute land to the Bonn Challenge. This unique partnership has provided a platform that has driven popular involvement in the recent successes of the Bonn Challenge and shows leadership in working together to activate practical solutions.

"As Ambassador for the Plant a Pledge Campaignand Founder and Chair of the Bianca Jagger Human Rights FoundationI am delighted with the pledges announced byEl Salvador and Costa Rica today, which take us to 20 million hectares, and bring 50 million within reach. We look forward to other commitments in the pipeline fromIndiaand the Meso-AmericanAllianceof Peoples and Forests being formalised with the GPFLR soon,"says Bianca Jagger, Ambassador of the Plant a Pledge Cam paign, and Chair of the Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation.

"Environmental destruction is a serious human rights issue and the Bonn Challenge has never been more relevant. Restoration of degraded and deforested lands is not simply about planting trees. People and communities are at the heart of the restoration effort, which transforms barren or degraded areas of land into healthy, fertile working

landscapes."

"The public should continue to appeal to governments, businesses, landowners and communities to contribute to theBonnChallenge target. We have a unique opportunity to renew our degraded and deforested landscapes now. Our fate and the fate of future generations depend on it.I urge everyone to support our campaign and sign our petition athttp://www.plantapledge.com,"says Jagger.