Side Event

Restoring 15% degraded ecosystems; What are the opportunities, from local to global?

Organizer
PBL-Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, World Resource Institute (WRI) and VU University Amsterdam

Date and Time
10 November 2011 13:15 - 14:45

Meeting
Fifteenth meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice

By 2020, restoration of at least 15% of the world's degraded ecosystems should contribute to climate change mitigation and to combating desertification. A challenging target, but what and where are these degraded ecosystems, and what is their extent? What has been already lost in terms of biodiversity, carbon sequestration, climate change, water availability, flood protection, and food and fiber productivity? And what are the potential gains of restoration and how should they be measured? We will present opportunities from the local to the global level: 1) On-farm re-greening in Africa's drylands; 2) Global opportunities for forest and landscape restoration; and 3) Incorporating ecosystem degradation and restoration in global biodiversity assessments and co-benefits for climate, food and water availability, and environmental income.