|
|
|
You can get e-magazine links on WhatsApp. Click here
|
|
|
|
|
|
Healthy nature for better food systems: UN awards new World Restoration Flagships
|
|
Thursday, 16 October, 2025, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
|
|
Rome
|
The United Nations has named four new World Restoration Flagships under the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. Recognising global efforts to heal degraded ecosystems, boost community incomes and support food security, the announcement was made during a high-level side event at the World Food Forum in Rome, ahead of World Food Day.
The World Restoration Flagship awards, led by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), spotlight some of the most ambitious and promising large-scale restoration efforts to halt land degradation and ensure healthier, more resilient agrifood systems.
The awards track and celebrate initiatives that contribute to global commitments to restore one billion hectares – an area roughly the size of China. In 2022, the inaugural 10 World Restoration Flagships were recognised, followed by seven initiatives in 2024 and three ocean-related initiatives in 2025.
“Restoring ecosystems is not just an environmental imperative – it is a cornerstone of global agrifood systems and resilience for the climate, for biodiversity, and for millions of people who depend on healthy ecosystems for foods and livelihoods,” said QU Dongyu, director-general of FAO.
The four newly recognised World Restoration Flagships span 18 countries on four continents. They are already restoring more than 500 000 hectares – an area nearly five times the size of Rome, where FAO is marking its 80th anniversary this week. By the end of the decade, the initiatives expect to have under restoration almost 500,000 additional hectares of forests, mountains, farmlands, grasslands, shrublands and savannahs, as well as coastal and freshwater ecosystems.
Inger Andersen, executive director of UNEP, said, “These flagships show what is doable when people come together to reverse the impacts of climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, and waste. As a fierce thunderstorm can end with birdsong, degraded ecosystems can be revived. At scale, these efforts deliver multiple benefits, including food security and livelihoods.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|