This report details how 18 countries are using the Restoration Barometer tool to track progress on their restoration commitments under global agreements, which total 48 million hectares by 2030.
Investments of USD 26 billion across 18 countries have brought 14 million hectares of degraded landscapes – an area about the size of Greece – under restoration, according to the Restoration Barometer report published by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in December 2022.

The report highlights the various benefits these restoration efforts bring for conservation and sustainable development. Detailed case studies in the report – e.g. on Mozambique’s National Mangrove Strategy, satellite use in Guatemala and endangered species protection in Mexico – also reveal that through restoration efforts in these 18 countries, twelve million jobs were created and over 145 million tonnes of carbon were sequestered in 2022.

Endorsed by more than 50 governments, the Restoration Barometer was developed by IUCN with the support of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection. The tool is used by governments to track restoration and its benefits across all terrestrial ecosystems, including coastal and inland waters, and to report on their commitments against global frameworks such as the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, the Bonn Challenge, the Paris Agreement or 1t.org.

Using the Restoration Barometer tool, countries record their restoration policies, modes of planning, monitoring systems and funding structures that make their efforts possible and ensure they will continue. They can then track the sizes of the areas under restoration, plus the corresponding climate, biodiversity and socio-economic benefits that result from the restoration programmes being implemented.

Next year, the Barometer will be further extended to include restoration efforts in kelp, seagrasses and shallow reefs, allowing users to report from ridge to reef. Looking ahead, the Restoration Barometer will also be made available for use by companies seeking to set and track restoration targets; 34 companies are currently piloting the tool in collaboration with the World Economic Forum and 1t.org. Next year, this new application will go live on the Restoration Barometer website, opening up opportunities for the private sector to transparently monitor company-wide restoration commitments.
Notes to editors:
The Restoration Barometer was first launched in 2016 as the Bonn Challenge Barometer. It was piloted in forest landscapes - including in Brazil, Rwanda, El Salvador, Mexico and the United States – to measure the success of restoration programmes and understand the hurdles to implementation and quantification of restoration benefits. Subsequently, the tool was applied by 22 countries. It has been endorsed by more than 50 countries.

In 2020, the Bonn Challenge Barometer was rebranded as the Restoration Barometer to reflect its core principles of flexibility and inclusivity, and to signify the extension of the Barometer beyond forest ecosystems. The new tool was piloted in 22 countries, and in 2021 it was expanded to include tracking across all terrestrial ecosystem types, including coastal and inland waters.

Though 22 countries submitted data to the Restoration Barometer in 2022, this report includes information from 18 of them as data from the remaining countries is still undergoing review by IUCN. All data submitted to the Barometer is validated by governments and reviewed by IUCN. A tier system is used across some indicators to ensure data integrity and reporting accuracy. Full submitted data from the Restoration Barometer is available for public access through the country dashboard.

The 18 countries included in the report are:

Latin America: Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru
Africa: Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Uganda
Asia: Bangladesh, Sri Lanka
Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan