Since July 2016, 14 African countries have endorsed the visionary Kigali Declaration – a Pan-African commitment to accelerate forest landscape restoration interventions in support of the Bonn Challenge. Recognising the close connection between restoring forests and ensuring food and water security for vulnerable communities, signing ministers declared, “Forest landscape restoration offers multiple benefits that align directly with African nations’ economic growth and poverty reduction plans.”

Asia is home to more than half of the world’s population, and the pressure is on forests to provide incomes, food and water, as well as deliver solutions to climate risks and land-use needs. Countries in Asia are looking to the restoration of their degraded and deforested lands to generate these important benefits, with a focus on poverty alleviation, climate-smart agriculture and reversing deforestation.

We, Ministers of African countries and representatives gathered in Lilongwe on July 12th and 13th, 2017 for the SADC+ Ministerial Bonn Challenge Summit, hosted by the Government of Malawi issue this ‘Call for Action for Forest Landscape Restoration in Africa’.

To further raise ambition on forest landscape restoration and the Bonn Challenge in the Southern Africa region, especially among the Southern African Development Community (SADC) member countries, the Government of Malawi hosted a Ministerial Roundtable at the Bingu International Convention Centre in Lilongwe, Malawi, from 12th to 13th July 2017, with organisational support for this event by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

The Government of Rwanda, with the support of the Secretariat of the East African Community and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), hosted the Bonn Challenge EAC+ 2016 High Level Roundtable.

We, Ministers of African countries and representatives gathered in Kigali on July 26th and 27th, 2016 for the Africa High Level Bonn Challenge Roundtable, hosted by the Government of Rwanda, in collaboration with the East Africa Community and the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

In the Astana Resolution, ministers and country representatives from Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan reaffirm their commitments to the Bonn Challenge global target of restoring 150 million hectares of deforested and degraded land by 2020 and 350 million hectares by 2030.

The major drivers of deforestation and degradation are excessive logging, bushfires, extensive agriculture, itinerant livestock farming as well as political, legal, institutional, technical and economic constraints.

The Bonn Challenge has received unprecedented support in Latin America with 18 pledges of over 35 million hectares. An additional 16 million hectares of restoration on agricultural lands not involving trees and non-territorially-defined pledges are included as part of Initiative 20x20 – a regional platform supporting the Bonn Challenge with the goal of bringing 20 million hectares of land into restoration by 2020.

The Ministerial Roundtable on Forest Landscape Restoration and the Bonn Challenge in the Caucasus and Central Asia was held on the 21 - 22 June 2018 in Astana, Kazakhstan. The two-day event begun with a tree planting ceremony in front of the Palace of Peace and Reconciliation followed by a field trip to the Green Belt of Astana city on the first day. Roundtable discussions followed on the second day.