Landscape and forest restoration will be a key area of focus in 2017 under a new partnership between the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by CIFOR and UNEP last month to foster joint action on promoting integrated landscape management and restoration of degraded landscapes, primarily through the Global Landscapes Forum, a knowledge platform coordinated by CIFOR with UNEP as a partner.
The MoU for the period 2016-2020 details plans for cooperation on promoting national and local action on forestry, landscape restoration and integrated landscape management to meet global targets on development, climate, biodiversity, and food and water security.
Upcoming activities will focus on meeting the targets of the Bonn Challenge and New York Declaration on Forests — to halve the rate of deforestation and restore 150 million hectares of deforested and degraded land worldwide by 2020, and to restore 350 million hectares of land and bring an end to deforestation by 2030.
By taking an integrated landscape management approach, the collaboration seeks to achieve these targets while supporting sustained biodiversity, contributing to action on climate change, and improving human well-being by striving to meet the Sustainable Development Goals.
Under the framework of the Global Landscapes Forum, the partnership will also support action on the newly launched Global Peatlands Initiative, and explore opportunities to establish a Landscapes Academy online portal, modeled after the REDD+ Academy workspace now run by UNEP and partners.
The MoU was signed in December 2016 by UNEP Executive Director Erik Solheim and CIFOR Director General Peter Holmgren in Jakarta, Indonesia.
