UN warns of ‘narrowing window’ to restore world’s forests
Food and Agriculture Organization urges governments to make forest restoration a national priority
TL;DR
- Over 489 million hectares of forests have been cleared since 1990, and an even larger area is degraded.
- Current restoration efforts are insufficient, with less than a fifth of promised land restoration actually underway.
- Forests are vital for storing carbon, hosting biodiversity, regulating rainfall, and supporting livelihoods for nearly a third of the global population.
- Threats like fires, insects, diseases, severe weather, farm expansion, and resource extraction are intensifying.
- Restoring 1 billion hectares of degraded land could generate $1.8 trillion in benefits annually.
- The UN FAO emphasizes that forest restoration is a strategic investment in resilient agrifood systems and rural development.