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World leaders and heads of major international agencies today pledged USD 4 billion over the next 5 years to step up implementation of the Great Green Wall for the Sahara and Sahel Initiative. Over the next 10 years, more than 50 million hectares of land will be restored. This will help sequester an estimated 250 million tons of carbon. The metaphoric Great Green Wall will provide sustainable alternatives for millions of young people, who are considering migrating from poverty-stricken areas in Africa’s Sahel region. Leaders expressed hope that the renewed commitment to the Great Green Wall for the Sahara and Sahel Initiative– Africa’s largest rural development project – will create new opportunities for communities right across the Sahel, while establishing greater resilience against climate change long into the future. The Great Green Wall – originally launched in 2007 – is taking root in Africa’s Sahel region, one of the world’s most vulnerable areas to climatic variability. Macky Sall, President of Senegal, said his country has “already planted 12 million trees and restored 25 000 ha of degraded land. This has helped boost long-term food, energy, water and economic security.” President Sall was speaking Tuesday morning at the Global Summit of the Heads of State and Government that are Great Green Wall for the Sahara and Sahel Initiative member states. The Summit was hosted by France’s President François Holland, in parallel to the Climate Change Conference taking place in Paris, France. The Ministerial meeting held Wednesday morning with Heads of development agencies was the follow-up to the Summit, with renewed commitments coming from the Government of France, the African Development Bank, the Global Environment Facility, the World Bank, and the European Union, as well as from the African leaders. The changes to Lake Chad, which borders five countries in West Africa and serves a large population in the region, including 2 million people who benefit directly, signal the depth of the crises. In just 30 years, the lake has shrunk by nearly ten times its original size from 25 000km2 to 2 500 km2. During this period, demand for water and arable land soared as the population around the lake rose from 22 million in 1991 to 38 million in 2012. The population is expected to reach 50 million by 2020. “The disappearance of Lake Chad is a security crisis that is fueling terrorist groups like Boko Haram”, said President Idriss Déby of Chad. He called for effective commitment on the ground to counter these threats. Persistent drought and land degradation in the Sahel are robbing land-dependent families of their livelihoods. Poverty, conflict over depleting natural resources, and increasingly, mass migration to Europe, are rife. More than 20 million people in the Sahel are currently food insecure, according to the United Nations Office for Humanitarian Affairs. The metaphoric Wall is a practical response taken by countries located along the southern margins of the Sahara Desert. “Ensuring vulnerable communities are resilient to climate change is our first line of defence against the growing challenges of forced migration, food insecurity, civil conflict and extremism. The constraints countries face demand that we take early and effective action in Africa and other regions of the world where people rely heavily on the land for survival,” commented Ms Monique Barbut, the UN’s top advisor on controlling the loss of productive land. “I commend the renewed commitment by the partners to the Great Green Wall, but hasten to add that it is in the interest of all countries to invest in land restoration. We can reduce the impact of future climate-induced disasters and quickly cut back the excess carbon dioxide emissions in the race to stay below a 2 degree Celsius target,” Ms Barbut added. A virtual reality film of the Wall, produced by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification together with global brand studio, Venture Three, is currently being shown at the Africa Pavilion, at the 21st Session of the United Nations Framework Convention to Combat Climate Change. The film titled, Growing a World Wonder, follows Binta, a young Senegalese girl, as she and her family tend to their section of the Wall. It explores the challenges they face and how the project is already transforming their lives for the better. “There are many world wonders, but the Great Green Wall will be unique and everyone can be a part of its history,” says Dr. Dlamini Zuma, Chairperson of the African Union Commission. “Together, we can change the future of African communities in the Sahel.” About the Great Green Wall The Great Green Wall is an African-led project with an epic ambition: to restore the productivity of degraded lands across the Sahel region and transform millions of lives. Its goal is to provide food, jobs and a future for the millions of people who live on the frontline of climate change. The Great Green Wall brings together African countries and international partners, under the leadership the African Union Commission, which includes the World Bank, the Global Environment Facility, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and the European Commission.   Article based on The African Union Commission Press Release, Paris, 02/12/2015 For interviews please contact: Elvis Paul Tangem, Coordinator, GGWSSI, African Union Commission, email: Elvispault@africa-union.org, Tel: +251936542733   Partners: THE AFRICAN UNION

Forest and Landscape Restoration is an active process that brings people together to identify, discuss and implement practices that restore an agreed optimal balance of the ecological, social and economic benefits of ecosystems within a broader pattern of sustainable land uses. Today we are seeing an unprecedented political momentum for supporting the ambitious targets set under the global ecosystem restoration agenda (CBD Aichi target 15, Bonn Challenge, New York Declaration on Forests, Sustainable Development Goal target 15.3 on Land Degradation Neutrality). This represents an opportunity to restore the often neglected abandoned and degraded agricultural lands that play a key role for food security and supporting local livelihoods. With political will, adequate policy and regulatory frameworks, sustainable financial support, effective partnerships for implementation, and meaningful engagement of local communities in both design and implementation phases, compelling and inspiring examples in countries -such as South Korea, Mali, Niger, Ethiopia, China and India  teach us that achieving successful large scale land restoration is possible when the right enabling environment is in place. These aspects were extensively discussed from during the Ecosystem Restoration Day organized at the Rio Conventions Pavilion, on October 20th 2015. In this context the Forestry Department of the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nation, the Global Mechanism shared the outcomes of the joint work that both organizations are undertaking to promote the sustainable financing of forests and landscape restoration efforts in support of FAO’s Forest and Landscape Restoration Mechanism. Participants drew on the expertise of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development to discuss the key role of the private sector. There was consensus that: There is a need to promote strong business cases and successful business models to support of land restoration actions Successful solutions can be scaled up through business innovation, improved stakeholder collaboration, and the redefinition of core business values Clear communication in a language that private sector can relate to is paramount Meaningful and measurable LDN indicators will empower businesses and facilitate effective outreach efforts. The World Resources Institute also shared six key steps to support the scaling up of land restoration efforts on the ground: Identify and analyze successful ecosystem restoration cases Support peer learning, local engagement and ownership at the grass root level Create enabling policies and legislation Implement effective communication strategies to share success stories Develop agroforestry value chains that support local livelihoods Filling the current knowledge gap on costs and benefits of forest and landscape restoration actions Finally, The German Technical Cooperation and the World Resources Institute briefed participants on the African Restoration Initiative, recently launched by the African Union as a new regional initiative contributing to the global land restoration agenda.

Monsieur Markus Repnik, Directeur Général du Mécanisme Mondial de la CNULCD, a pris part aujourd’hui à la concertation francophone de haut niveau sur le thème : « Comment faire de la lutte contre les changements climatiques et des objectifs du développement durable des leviers pour la préservation des terres». Cette concertation était présidée par le Sénégal, et elle a vu la participation de la Secrétaire exécutive de la Convention, Mme Monique Barbut. Dans son intervention, M. Repnik a rappelé que la perte de 12 millions d’hectares de terres chaque année, dont nous dépendons pour la nourriture, les fibres et l’eau était un problème majeur pour espérer éradiquer la faim et l’extrême pauvreté. Fort heureusement poursuivra-t-il, nous disposons maintenant d’une nouvelle opportunité : « celle d’agir de façon décisive pour mettre en œuvre le concept de la neutralité en matière de dégradation des terres - adopté sous la cible 15.3 des objectifs de développement durables (ODD)». M. Repnik a mis en exergue la possibilité d’établir des partenariats ‘gagnant-gagnant’ grâce auxquels on pourrait lutter contre la désertification en même temps que le changement climatique – tant du point de vue de l’adaptation que de celui de l’atténuation. Selon lui, pour saisir les opportunités les pays, devront évaluer les budgets nationaux pour voir comment ils sont utilisés, en analysant par exemple, la façon dont le budget consacré à l’agriculture est dépensé et s’il permet à ce secteur tout entier de se transformer dans une perspective durable. Les pays devraient aussi tout mettre en œuvre pour exploiter les ressources du financement climatique à travers les initiatives basées sur la gestion durable des terres. Il est important à présent dira-t-il de traduire en actions concrètes le slogan « des initiatives pilotes à la mise à l’échelle des activités de Gestion Durable des Terres et de restauration ». La Grande Muraille Verte est un des exemples phares dans ce sens. En conclusion, M. Repnik a précisé que le Mécanisme Mondial pourrait apporter son soutien aux pays pour les aider à définir les objectifs de la neutralité en matière de dégradation des terres, à exploiter les sources de financements climatiques mondiaux et à la mise en œuvre des projets de restauration à grande échelle, en collaboration avec des partenaires nationaux et internationaux.   Related links: Discours d’Ouverture de Mme Monique Barbut, Secrétaire Exécutive de la CNULCD (309.28 KB) Allocution de Mr Markus Repnik, Directeur Général du Mécanisme Mondial (101.77 KB) Site web de l’Organisation internationale de la Francophonie

“Securing equitable land rights and tenure are a precondition for Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN)”, said the Global Mechanism’s Sven Walter at a side event at COP12 on “Land Rights: crucial to reverse to prevent land degradation”. Co-organised by the International Land Coalition the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the United Nations Environment Programme, the International Union for Nature Conservation and the Global Mechanism, the side event showcased the importance of people-centered land governance to achieve Land Degradation Neutrality, as called for in the Sustainable Development Goals.   Michael Taylor, Director of the International Land Coalition, shared the results of a recent study conducted by the Rights and Resources Initiative, which revealed that 65% of the Earth’s land surface is claimed by Indigenous People and local communities through customary usage and management. “However, only 18% of this land is actually recognised by governments as belonging to local communities [...]. This is a concern because it is land on which up to 1.5 billion people live and use, but over which they have no legal control”, said Mr Taylor. Noting the challenges to ensure adequate access to land, the side event highlighted existing good practices, which are strengthening the rights of local communities and Indigenous People: The International Union for Nature Conservation presented the traditional Hima system, which is recognized by the Government of Jordan as a traditional land use system promoting sound community-based rangeland systems and the restoration of degraded ecosystems; The International Land Coalition and the International Livestock Research Institute took stock of the Rangeland Initiative they are implementing and presented case studies on securing tenure in rangelands; Réseau Billital Maroobe, a federation of pastoralist organizations in West Africa, shared lessons-learnt from a capitalisation exercise, which is supported by the Global Mechanism, on of their best practices around negotiated land management arrangements and conflict prevention in the Sahel. The International Fund for Agricultural Development shared its experience of how to secure farmers’ access to land in order to trigger investments for increased agricultural production. The main conclusions of the side event were presented by Michael Taylor on 21 October during the COP12 High Level Dialogue with Civil Society Organizations on Land Rights: Governments need to legally recognize customary land rights of Indigenous People and local communities, including collective land rights; A bottom-up and people-centered process is required, which need to build on the existing knowledge, capacities and customary management systems of Indigenous Peoples and local communities. The contribution of organizations directly representing land-users, including farmers, Indigenous Peoples, women and rural youth needs to be recognized. We need to learn from, adapt and sale-up the good examples related to people centered land governance. The UNCCD Secretariat and the Global Mechanism, as member of the International Land Coalition, will continue collaborating with the more than 200 International Land Coalition member organizations and its Secretariat to ensure that UNCCD implementation, including Land Degradation Neutrality target-setting and implementation fully take into account the interests and needs of Indigenous People and local communities.   Related links: Réseau Billital Maroobé International Livestock Research Institute

“From Pilots to Scale – Supporting Countries to Translate the Convention into Action”, was the theme of the evening reception hosted by the Global Mechanism on 14 October on the occasion of COP12. Opening the event, Markus Repnik, the Global Mechanism’s newly appointed Managing Director stated “the adoption of Land Degradation Neutrality as a Sustainable Development Goal provides us with an unprecedented opportunity to create a new momentum for the implementation of our Convention.” Pedro Lara Almuedo explained how the Global Mechanism is “on the move” - making Land Degradation Neutrality action a top priority. It will also assist countries both in Land Degradation Neutrality target setting and implementation. The GM will assist countries to tap into financial resources for land restoration and sustainable land management. Samson Awopeju made a passionate intervention on the intrinsic linkages between land, resilience and security as an avenue to safeguarding individual livelihoods and collective security. Land degradation and insecurity hot spots frequently overlap and without adaptation strategies and resilience building geared to responsibly managing and restoring our natural capital, land degradation will continue to be a significant factor that threatens rural livelihoods, triggers forced migration and aggravates conflicts over limited natural resources. He illustrated how the Global Mechanism is supporting local communities to build resilience by focusing on disaster risk reduction, drought management, and forest and landscape restoration. During the evening, the team highlighted the GM’s work to support communities across the Sahel in climate resilient development, as part of the Great Green Wall initiative and its efforts to scale up the Great Green Wall Initiative, to jointly “Grow a World Wonder", since the Great Green Wall is part of the solution to many global challenges, including food security, conflict prevention and environmental migration. Nevena Bakalar explained that the private sector plays a pivotal role in land use and management. To halt and reverse the current rate of land degradation, there is an urgent need for a paradigm shift in land stewardship from “degrade-abandon-migrate” to “restore-sustain-protect”. The Global Mechanism is assisting countries and businesses through economic valuation of natural capital and land use change, including carbon accounting and demonstrating examples of successful business opportunities in land restoration and sustainable land management. The event also marked the launch of the Global Mechanism’s new website, celebrated on the rooftop of the Rio Convention Pavilion, under the stars.

“Eighty percent of the potential land suitable for forest and landscape restoration (FLR) can be found in drylands”, said Eduardo Rojas, Assistant Director General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), during the closing session of a two-days expert consultation on Private investments in Forest and Landscape Restoration (FLR), co-organized by FAO and the Global Mechanism of the UNCCD on 30 June and 1 July 2015 in Rome, Italy. Rojas also underlined that FLR contributes to the provision of livelihood opportunities for communities in rural areas and the reduction of forced migration. The workshop brought together some 30 international experts from multilateral, bilateral and non-governmental organizations, research institutes and the private sector to identify ways for increasing private sector investments in FLR. Currently, it is estimated that 12 million hectares of land are degraded every year, resulting in a total stock of more than two billion hectares of degraded land that offer opportunities for restoration, and three quarters of this area being suitable for mosaic restoration.  Initiatives around the world aim at up-scaling FLR in order to contribute to global ecosystem restoration goals and promote land degradation neutrality. Impact investors like the Moringa Fund invest in agroforestry systems such as coffee plantations in order to promote sound and viable management strategies at landscape level. Private companies such as EcoPlanet Bamboo promote largescale bamboo restoration for the production of fibre. At the same time, regional initiatives such as TerrAfrica in Africa and “Initiative 20 by 20” in Latin America, as well as national initiatives such as Payment for Environmental Services for sustainable cork oak production in Portugal, supported by WWF and Coca Cola, offer a variety of mechanisms to upscale investments in FLR. The workshop identified concrete opportunities to upscale FLR, for example through aggregating financial resources at landscape level, bringing together different stakeholders and sectors involved, thus preventing inter-sectoral or resource-use conflicts. However, participants also highlighted that certain key conditions must be in place in order to tap into increased finance for FLR, including an adequate enabling investment environment, the existence of local champions with the necessary skills, and the availability of bankable investment proposals that focus on promising value chains within landscapes. Missing information on possible returns on investments (e.g. ex-ante cost benefit analysis) as well as investment risk assessment and mitigation mechanisms, unclear tenure situation, and lack of coherence among possible investors and landowners/users have been highlighted among the key barriers that need to be overcome for increased investments in FLR. In order to identify key action required to upscale FLR, FAO and the GM of the UNCCD – through its Rome Liaison Office - established a partnership to deliver a Discussion Paper on “Sustainable Finance for FLR”. The paper will review best available information, discuss issues and success stories related to FLR funding, and assess opportunities to increase access to financing in support to FLR implementation at scale. The workshop report and the Discussion Paper will be made available soon on the FAO and GM websites. All the material from the workshop, including background papers and presentations, is also available via at the links below.   Related links: Workshop materials and presentations The FAO FLR Mechanism The Global Partnership on Forest and Landscape Restoration The Bonn Challenge