Restoring a fraction of the world’s converted lands could save species, reverse warming
Forests and wetlands deliver the highest climate and biodiversity benefits
Cooperation among countries in each targeted region essential for ecosystem restoration

Halting or reversing the effects of carbon dioxide and other planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions is best done by using the human footprint to identify key regions where action can be the most cost-effective, says a new study.

According to the study, published last month (October) in Nature, restoring a select 15 per cent of the land converted or degraded by humans could avoid 60 per cent of expected extinctions while sequestering 299 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide, or the equivalent of 30 per cent of the total carbon dioxide increase in the atmosphere since the Industrial Revolution.

According to the World Economic Forum, over half of the land on earth has been converted by human activity.

Restoring 30 per cent of the world’s degraded lands to their natural state could rescue more than 70 per cent of land-based mammals, amphibians and birds at risk of dying out, while soaking up more than 465 billion tons of carbon dioxide.