<\/p>\n
The awards come as the UN warns that around 40% of the world’s land is degraded, affecting approximately 3.2 billion people and placing growing pressure on food security, water resources and economic stability.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
UNCCD Executive Secretary Yasmine Fouad said the winning projects demonstrate that large-scale restoration can deliver tangible benefits. “These programmes show that restoration works,” Fouad said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“They demonstrate that investing in nature strengthens resilience, supports livelihoods and delivers tangible benefits for people and communities.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The three initiatives aim to restore nearly five million hectares of degraded land by 2030.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In Brazil, the Restoring Brazil’s Cerrado Savannah initiative is working to rehabilitate one of the world’s most biodiverse tropical savannahs.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Cerrado covers about a quarter of Brazil’s land area but has lost more than half of its native vegetation because of agricultural expansion and climate change.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The programme, which involves more than 180 partners, has already placed over 27 000 hectares under restoration and used seeds from more than 150 native plant species.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The goal is to restore two million hectares by 2030.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In Saudi Arabia, the National Greening Programme has already restored one million hectares of degraded land and planted 159 million trees.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The initiative includes reforestation, natural regeneration, controlled grazing, rainwater harvesting and the use of treated wastewater.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
By 2030, the programme aims to restore 2.5 million hectares and plant 215 million trees, while creating up to 187 000 jobs.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The third winner, the Sahel Integrated Resilience Initiative, operates across Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Led by the World Food Programme (WFP), the initiative has improved food security and livelihoods for more than four million people since 2018.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The programme has already rehabilitated more than 335 000 hectares of land and improved agricultural productivity across targeted areas.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Monitoring data shows that about 75% of restoration sites have recorded better soil and vegetation conditions, while the number of households requiring humanitarian assistance has declined by around 11% during the lean season.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
By 2030, the initiative aims to restore 470 000 hectares and sequester up to 20 million tonnes of carbon dioxide.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Fouad said restoration efforts are becoming increasingly important as land degradation, drought and ecosystem loss evolve from environmental concerns into broader development and security challenges. “There is now a growing recognition that land degradation, drought and ecosystem loss are fundamental challenges to food security, water security and economic stability,” Fouad said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The UN has set a global target of restoring one billion hectares of degraded land by 2030.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
–UN\/ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":43926,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-43925","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Three major land restoration initiatives in Brazil, Saudi Arabia and the Sahel have been recognised as World Restoration Flagships at the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) in Mongolia, highlighting efforts to reverse environmental degradation threatening billions of people worldwide.","published_date":"","news_description":"Three major land restoration initiatives in Brazil, Saudi Arabia and the Sahel have been recognised as World Restoration Flagships at the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) in Mongolia, highlighting efforts to reverse environmental degradation threatening billions of people worldwide.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/43925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/43925\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43927,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/43925\/revisions\/43927"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=43925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}