Landscape Restoration Movement Approaches 50 Million Hectares With El Salvador and Costa Rica Commitments

LONDON, December 6, 2012 /PRNewswire/ –

The global movement to restore 150 million hectares of degraded and deforested land by
2020 – known as the “Bonn Challenge” – gains momentum at the UN Climate Talks in Doha
today, as Costa Rica and El Salvador each commit up to 1 million hectares. The 50 million
hectare mark – or one third of the target – is now within reach.

(Photo:
http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20121206/582242 )

Achieving the Bonn Challenge – launched in September 2011 in Bonn Germany by the
Global Partnership on Forest Landscape Restoration (GPFLR) – would deliver a host of major
benefits to humanity and the planet, such as improving food security, protecting
biodiversity and benefiting people’s livelihoods. Costa Rica and El Salvador are the
latest in joining USA, Rwanda and the Brazilian Mata Atlantica Restoration Pact in making
pledges.

“Governments and people are calling for achievable solutions to the major threats we
face today, including climate change. The Bonn Challenge is a nature-based solution-which
is why it is capturing the world’s attention,” explains Julia Marton-Lefevre, Director
General of IUCN, which coordinates the GPFLR. “While the progress so far has been
wonderful, it is only through continued pledges like the ones by El Salvador and Costa
Rica that we can reach our global target.”

With formal pledges now over 20 million hectares, a pre-pledge declaration of intent
from India of 10 million, and another 20 million in the pipeline from the Meso American
Alliance of Peoples and Forests, a staggering 50 million hectares of commitments is now
within reach.

“Restoring 150 million hectares over the next 10 years could potentially close the
‘emissions gap’ by 11-17% and inject more than US$ 80 billion per year into local and
national economies,” according to Stewart Maginnis, Global Director of Nature-Based
Solutions, IUCN.

Earlier this year, during the UN Sustainable Development “Rio +20″ talks, more than
one million people voted the Bonn Challenge as the second most important issue upon which
heads of state should act. To harness this public appetite, Airbus and IUCN launched the
Plant a Pledge campaign, which through an online petition empowers all people to call on
governments, landowners and communities to contribute land to the Bonn Challenge. This
unique partnership has provided a platform that has driven popular involvement in the
recent successes of the Bonn Challenge and shows leadership in working together to
activate practical solutions.

“As Ambassador for the Plant a Pledge Campaign and Founder and Chair of the Bianca
Jagger Human Rights Foundation I am delighted with the pledges announced by El Salvador
and Costa Rica today, which take us to 20 million hectares, and bring 50 million within
reach. We look forward to other commitments in the pipeline fromIndia and the
Meso-American Alliance of Peoples and Forests being formalised with the GPFLR soon,” says
Bianca Jagger, Ambassador of the Plant a Pledge Campaign, and Chair of the Bianca Jagger
Human Rights Foundation.

“Environmental destruction is a serious human rights issue and the Bonn Challenge has
never been more relevant. Restoration of degraded and deforested lands is not simply about
planting trees. People and communities are at the heart of the restoration effort, which
transforms barren or degraded areas of land into healthy, fertile working landscapes.”

“The public should continue to appeal to governments, businesses, landowners and
communities to contribute to the Bonn Challenge target. We have a unique opportunity to
renew our degraded and deforested landscapes now. Our fate and the fate of future
generations depend on it. I urge everyone to support our campaign and sign our petition at
http://www.plantapledge.com,” says Jagger.

    Photo: 

http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20121206/582242

SOURCE IUCN-Airbus and Plant a Pledge Campaign