Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia — The United Nations has unveiled three new World Restoration Flagships in Brazil, the Sahel, and Saudi Arabia. These initiatives aim to boost landscape productivity by rehabilitating degraded ecosystems in areas plagued by drought, desertification, and climate change.
Jointly led by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the awards were announced under the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021–2030) during a high‑level event at UNCCD COP17 in Mongolia. Together, the flagships pledge to restore nearly 5 million hectares by 2030 — roughly the size of seven million football fields — advancing the global goal of restoring one billion hectares by the same year.
“The impacts of climate change, drought, desertification, and ongoing geopolitical tensions are straining global food systems,” said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP. “Investing in healthy land is one of our most effective defenses against these threats. The three initiatives recognized today demonstrate that ecosystem restoration delivers significant benefits — including improved food security, job creation, and greater resilience for millions of people.”
“Restoring degraded land must become a top priority if we are to meet global commitments on food security, land‑degradation neutrality, biodiversity, food diversity, and the climate crisis,” said FAO Director‑General QU Dongyu. “Every hectare restored brings us a step closer to a more sustainable future.”
“There is growing recognition that land degradation, drought, and ecosystem loss are no longer merely environmental issues — they are fundamental challenges to food security, water security, and economic stability,” said Dr Yasmine Fouad, Executive Secretary of UNCCD. “These World Restoration Flagships prove that restoration works. They show that investing in nature strengthens resilience, supports livelihoods, and delivers tangible benefits for people and communities. At UNCCD COP17 in Mongolia, we will focus on scaling up land restoration and drought resilience, turning proven solutions into action at the scale the world needs.”
Brazil restores the Cerrado – the world’s most biodiverse savanna
Brazil’s Cerrado is the world’s most biodiverse tropical savanna. The Araticum Initiative, “Restoring Brazil’s Cerrado Savannah,” unites over 180 organizations, Indigenous peoples, local communities, farmers, researchers, and government bodies across nine Brazilian states to support restoration projects through natural regeneration, direct seeding, and agroforestry with native species.
As of June 2026, more than 27,000 hectares have been placed under restoration, and seeds from over 150 native plant species have been collected and used in these efforts. The initiative aims to bring 2 million hectares under restoration by 2030.
Saudi Arabia’s restoration of arid landscapes
Saudi Arabia’s National Greening Program seeks to transform degraded landscapes across rangelands, forests, deserts, urban areas, and coastal ecosystems, including mangroves. With a target of restoring 2.5 million hectares and planting 215 million trees by 2030 — while creating up to 187,000 jobs and improving urban air quality — it supports the Kingdom’s broader goal of restoring 40 million hectares and planting 10 billion trees by 2100.
Led by the National Center for Vegetation Cover Development and Combating Desertification, the program had, by June 2026, restored 1 million hectares of degraded land and planted 159 million trees. Activities include reforestation, natural regeneration, controlled grazing, reintroduction of native wildlife such as Arabian oryx, gazelles, and ibex, rainwater harvesting, and the use of treated wastewater to support restoration in water‑scarce landscapes.
Sahel initiative links restoration with food security and resilience
Across the Sahel, conflict, land degradation, drought, food insecurity, and climate change are intensifying pressure on ecosystems and communities. The Sahel Integrated Resilience Initiative, operating in Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger, is restoring degraded land while strengthening livelihoods and food systems, including assistance for cross‑border refugees fleeing war in Sudan.
Led by the UN World Food Programme, the initiative had already restored more than 335,000 hectares of degraded land by June 2026 and aims to restore 470,000 hectares by 2030. By combining land rehabilitation techniques, soil and water management, livelihood support, and school‑feeding programmes, it has benefited more than 4 million people across the region.
Restoring land is restoring resilience
The three new World Restoration Flagships join a growing network of 27 restoration initiatives recognized under the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. The awarded projects exemplify the best large‑scale, long‑term ecosystem restoration efforts worldwide.
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