Objectives: Two billion hectares of degraded land worldwide, an area larger than South America, are available for rehabilitation. An additional 12 million hectares of land are degraded every year by human activities. Rehabilitating this land will not only neutralize this negative trend, but also increase food security, mitigate climate change and secure vital ecosystems services.
As an immediate response to this challenge, a coordination investment platform is being established as a public–private partnership (PPP) among private institutional investors, international finance institutions and donors. The goal is to support the transition to land degradation neutrality (LDN) through land rehabilitation while generating revenues for investors from sustainable production on rehabilitated land.
To achieve LDN, the Fund will promote the rehabilitation of a minimum of 12 million hectares per year representing the extent of land degraded worldwide to sustain the global economy. The Fund will draw from the estimated 2 billion hectares of degraded lands available for rehabilitation, and will support sustainable productive uses of upgraded land by providing adequate and long-term financing and technical assistance.
This session presented and discussed the LDN Fund, the investment case, the role of public and private stakeholders, and the opportunities the Fund may provide in increasing at-scale financing in targeted landscapes for financial, social and environmental returns.
During the session, participants discussed:
- Partnerships with institutional investors.
- Identification of fund managers.
- Large-scale project proposals (pipeline).
Background reading:
These documents were made available during the session:
- Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) Fund: Factsheet
- Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) Fund: Scoping paper
