A total of 150 million hectares of degraded forests will be restored
An important goal of the Federal Environment Ministry's international nature conservation and climate policy has been achieved. The Bonn Challenge for forest restoration, launched by Germany, has succeeded in inspiring countries to make pledges totalling 150 million hectares. The target line was crossed yesterday at the first Asia Bonn Challenge regional meeting in Palembang, Indonesia. Bangladesh, Mongolia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka announced restoration pledges during the meeting. In 2011 in Bonn, on Germany's initiative, many countries agreed to restore 150 million hectares of degraded and deforested land globally by 2020.
State Secretary at the Federal Environment Ministry Jochen Flasbarth, who represented Germany at the meeting, congratulated Alex Noerdin, Governor of South-Sumatra and host of the regional meeting: "The Bonn Challenge has triggered an incredible global dynamic in the area of forest landscape restoration. When we started the Bonn Challenge in 2011, no one could have imagined that we would achieve our target of 150 million hectares three years ahead of schedule. The support shown by the countries of the region here in Palembang for the Bonn Challenge, which is also being translated into national initiatives, proves that in 2011 we set in motion a ground-breaking trend for global forest landscape restoration."