Continuing depletion of forest resources, particularly in tropical developing countries, has turned vast areas of intact ecosystems into urbanized and agricultural lands. The degree of degradation varies, but in most cases, the ecosystem functions and the ability to provide a variety of ecosystem services are severely impaired. In addition to many other challenges, successful forest restoration of these lands requires considerable resources and funding, but the ecological, economic and social benefits have the potential to outweigh the investment.

Despite a long history of forest conversion and forest degradation due to unsustainable logging practices, the natural forests of Southeast Asia still constitute an immense renewable resource and provide vital contributions to the economic and social development of the region. Invariably, the countries of the region commit to the principle of sustainable forest management (SFM), as expressed in their respective forest policies and/or sector strategies. In line with the international policy debate (e.g.

The Global Landscapes Forum (GLF) entered a new era in December 2017 when it successfully launched its next five-year phase, centered on building a worldwide movement to connect and engage one billion people around sustainable land use.

The inaugural meeting of this ‘new’ GLF was held from 19-20 December at the World Conference Center in Bonn, Germany, where the movement will take up residence over the next five years.

This document provides information on how implementing forest landscape restoration (FLR) at the jurisdictional and national level can offer countries a way to recover degraded forests and bring back key forest ecosystem functionalities in a way that will increase biodiversity levels in a landscape while contributing to achieving several Aichi Biodiversity Targets.

The Bonn Challenge is a global effort to bring 150 million hectares (Mha) into restoration by 2020 and 350 Mha by 2030. Underlying the Bonn Challenge is the forest landscape restoration (FLR) approach. The Bonn Challenge is a voluntary, non-binding initiative launched to advance the restoration movement and in recognition of the importance of forest landscape restoration for meeting national priorities and international commitments. To date 47 contributors have pledged more than 160 Mha to the Bonn Challenge.

This report presents the results of the National Forest Landscape Restoration Assessment (NFLRA) for Malawi. The NFLRA process was launched in February 2016 by the Minister of Natural Resources, Energy and Mining in close collaboration with government departments in the Ministries of Agriculture, Water and Irrigation; Lands; Local Government; Finance; Gender and Social Services; and other concerned stakeholders.

The degradation of forests is a threat to both the functioning of ecosystems and the well-being of human communities. Nations have for several years grappled with the challenge of finding ways of restoring forest landscapes that suit the ecological constraints of particular sites as well as the socio-economic circumstances of the landowners or land users, and ensure resilience under various future uncertainties. Forest landscape restoration is a feasible option through which these challenges can be addressed.

The protection and revival of degraded and deforested land is the need of the hour. In order to tackle the issues that arise as a consequence of degradation and deforestation, principles of forest landscape restoration are being globally promoted. The Bonn Challenge is a global effort to bring 150 million hectares of deforested and degraded land into restoration by 2020 and 350 million hectares by 2030. The government of India made a Bonn Challenge pledge to bring under restoration 13 million hectares of degraded land by 2020 and an additional 8 million hectares by 2030.

Biodiversity is inherent in forest landscape restoration. As global initiatives like the Bonn Challenge and New York Declaration on Forests inspire nations to pursue sustainable landscapes and economic growth, on the ground, biodiversity binds people and nature to their shared future. Restoring ‘forward’ to meet current and future landscape challenges requires novel approaches and nature-based solutions. Restoration has the potential to generate billions in economic returns and to mitigate many of the effects of humaninduced climate change.

This publication provides facts, figures and key messages to encourage more investments in forest and landscape restoration, leading to more restoration action. The Global Partnership on Forest and Landscape Restoration outlines how we can reach the 2020 and 2030 targets, and how we can best collaborate, using regional and global platforms.

This report presents the results of a small scale household survey that was conducted in May
2015 to assess the extent to which rural Rwandan citizens are vulnerable or resilient to
environmental, market and land tenure risks and the level they understand the laws and rights
related to land. The report also compares the results of the survey with those from the baseline
survey conducted in May 2014, and seeks to inform the LAND Project of its progress in
achieving objectives entailed in the project’s results framework, namely: