The Peace Forest Initiative

The Peace Forest Initiative (PFI) is a flagship programme of UNCCD that demonstrates crucial linkages between land, peace and security. It is designed to address restoration of ecosystems and land-based resources including land, soil, water and forests in fragile and conflict-affected locations.

The PFI brings together stakeholders to catalyse transboundary cooperation on ecosystem restoration to build trust and peace. It unites communities across national borders to co-manage shared land resources and ecosystems for a peaceful future. The concept was inspired by early success stories of environmental peace building showcased at the first Global Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) Forum in 2018. Following initial consultations, PFI has been launched in 2019 with the support of UNCCD country Parties to assist countries affected by fragility or conflict through cooperation with their neighbors to rehabilitate and restore degraded land, soil, water and forests.

Objectives and next steps

The PFI provides a collaborative and inclusive platform for communities and other stakeholders in cross-border settings to co-design activities that conserve, restore and manage environment and natural resources as a shared asset. These activities are envisioned to contribute to increased resilience, peace and sustainable development.  

A key goal of the PFI is to engage a broad range of stakeholders to identify and formulate potential entry points for the initiative. Through regional consultations with local actors and experts, the entry points are framed into a “PFI package” of initial activities to foster further cross-border confidence through stakeholder coordination, dialogue and training sessons. The ultimate goal is to develop bankable projects with long-term restoration and peace building objectives and boost resilience of local communities to environmental challenges while securing vital ecosystem services.

The UNCCD Secretariat will provide countries with technical support and seed funding to plan and mobilize resources for large-scale restoration and peace building activities based on the PFI principles. The full-scale project implementation will contribute to the agreed Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) or other restoration goals and outcomes.

The Global Mechanism (GM) of UNCCD recently completed an initial mapping of potential PFI sites and identified 17 locations involving 44 countries for the PFI activities. The GM will continue collaborating with partners and parties to plant the seeds of peace and trust, facilitating the implementation of the PFI in various locations. You can find more information about the PFI projects below.

South Caucasus

The first round of the PFI consultations in the South Caucasus region was conducted on 13-15 February 2024, when representatives of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia convened at the Black Sea coast  to discuss the influence  of environmental degradation and natural resources depletion on peace and security. The workshop served to foster dialogue and promote partnerships among countries as a foundation for stronger regional cooperation in natural resources management, climate resilience and peace building. The countries agreed to shape a regional roadmap for sustainable land management and showcase it at the upcoming UNCCD COP16.

The second PFI workshop took place in Tbilisi, Georgia from 30 April to 2 May, 2024, with representatives of government institutions, development partners and experts in environmental management, climate security, and biodiversity discussing an action plan for the implementation of the Initiative in the region of South Caucus. Participants prioritized and agreed on a number of priority projects, including  creation of a regional dashboard for environmental data and soil mapping, development of a regional landscape restoration program and joint monitoring of migratory species of wild animals.

These activities aim to address related environmental problems in the region, including biodiversity loss and land degradation. The outcomes of the workshop will support regional cooperation objectives under the PFI, contributing to fostering peace through collective environmental stewardship and promoting sustainability.

Central Asia

In Central Asia, the PFI convened the five countries – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan – for a workshop in Tashkent on 12-15  March, 2024. The discussions topics included the increased risks associated with sand and dust storms, approaches to sustainable land and resource management in the transboundary climate-security hotspots of the Ferghana Valley and high mountain regions, and the need for transparent management and sharing of environmental and resource-related data.

The workshop also provided an opportunity to explore synergies between the implementation of the closely interlinked Rio Conventions on climate, land, and biodiversity. Country representatives agreed on the need to prioritize the issues of regional cooperation at the upcoming UNCCD COP16. The PFI team will follow up with the countries to further develop detailed concepts of PFI activities on the topics discussed.

Horn of Africa

The PFI workshop for the Horn of Africa region that took place on 28-30 May, 2024, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, brought together representatives of Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda to address regional challenges at the intersection of environmental management and peace building.

Building on the foundation of the initial PFI workshop that took place in Nairobi the previous year, and where key cross-border issues were identified, the second workshop in Ethiopia focused on integrating these priorities into national contexts to develop large-scale, bankable projects and programmess.

It identified existing regional frameworks and strategies for the PFI’s contribution, including IGAD initiatives, the Land Degradation Neutrality Target Setting Programme, and the Great Green Wall initiative. The workshop served as acritical platform for dialogue and partnership-building among Horn of Africa countries, fostering regional cooperation to tackle shared challenges, such as coordinating cross-border resource management policies and capacity building.