UNCCD attends the fifth Bonn Challenge meeting in Latin America

Photo: Minister of Environment/Germany Mr. Jochen Flasbarth and Vice-Minister Environment/Cuba Mr. Fidel Santana

Havana, Cuba –  Delegates from Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, Uruguay, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Cuba, together with representatives of the German government, attended the fifth meeting of the Bonn Challenge/Latin America on 12–13 June 2019. They delegates from the governments, CSOs and academia met to discuss the role of landscape restoration in climate change adaptation as well as national perspectives on reforestation and revival of landscapes in 2020–2030.

The meeting included a field visit to the biosphere reserve "Sierra del Rosario," where participants engaged in reforestation work. "The Bonn Challenge, through the restoration of ecosystems, allows to establish effective protection of the soil and combat desertification," said German Minister for the Environment Jochen Flasbarth during the event.  

The Havana Statement, adopted by participants, emphasized that restoration of degraded ecosystems presents an opportunity to focus in an integrated way on the relationship between ecosystem restoration, desertification and the fight against climate change, making progress toward Sustainable Development Goals.

The next Bonn Challenge-Latin-America meeting will be in Belize in 2020. In the words of Fidel Santana, the President of the Bonn Challenge Organizing Committee and Deputy Minister of Environment of Cuba, the initiative is focused on preserving the environment and the forests, not just for this generation but for the future ones to build a more equitable and sustainable world.

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