Germany supports restoration of forests in Latin America

The Federal Environment Ministry is supporting Central American countries with additional financial resources for forest restoration. "We aim to restore 5 million hectares of forests and woodlands in Central America by 2020. To achieve that, we are supporting the countries of the region through the International Climate Initiative”, said Jochen Flasbarth, State Secretary at the Federal Environment Ministry, in Panama City at the opening of the second regional conference on the implementation of the Bonn Challenge in Latin and South America. The Bonn Challenge, initiated by the Federal Environment Ministry, is a global action platform for the restoration of forests. It is the most important international forest restoration initiative, giving important impetus to global climate action and biodiversity conservation and providing new livelihoods for people through the restoration of forests, especially in the countries of the South.

Biodiversity is extremely high in the forests of Central America: an area of less than 1 percent of the global land mass is home to more than eight percent of the world's biodiversity. This unique habitat has long been threatened. Around 280,000 hectares of forest landscape are destroyed every year. This corresponds to the size of Germany's Saarland. The Federal Environment Ministry is supporting the restoration of forest landscapes in Central America through its International Climate Initiative (ICI). Since 2011, the Federal Environment Ministry has supported the countries of the South in implementing the Bonn Challenge with a total of around 100 million euros through its International Climate Initiative (ICI).

With these funds, El Salvador was not only able to publish its national plan for the restoration of forests in April this year, but also to implement parts of it. A total of 64,000 hectares of forest will be restored in El Salvador by 2020. Panama is planning to plant nearly one million hectares of new forest along the Panama Canal with this support. Participants at the second regional conference on the implementation of the Bonn Challenge in Latin and Central America also discussed how - in addition to public funding - private investors could participate in the restoration of forests.

State Secretary at the Federal Environment Ministry Jochen Flasbarth noted: "Through the Bonn Challenge, Germany has made forest restoration a central issue on the international political agenda of sustainable development. With the goal of restoring 150 million hectares of forests worldwide by 2020, we have inspired many countries to take concrete local action. By bringing the Bonn challenge to the regional level, in Latin America, Africa and Asia, it is bringing about a new form of South-South cooperation, mutual learning and acting together that is unique in the world."