The Bonn Challenge is a global aspiration to restore 150 million hectares of the world’s deforested and degraded lands by 2020. The 2020 target was launched by world leaders at a ministerial roundtable in Bonn, Germany, in September 2011, and extended to another 200 mil ha by 2030 by the the New York Declaration on Forests of the UN Climate Summit in 2014, totalling 350 mil ha. Underlying the Bonn Challenge is the forest landscape restoration approach, which aims to restore ecological integrity at the same time as improving human wellbeing through multi-functional landscapes.

 The Bonn Challenge is an implementation vehicle for national priorities such as water and food security, disaster risk reduction and rural development as well as for several existing international commitments, including the CBD Aichi Target 15, the UNFCCC REDD+ goal, and the Rio+20 land degradation neutrality goal now embodied in the sustainable development goals.

 So far the Bonn Challenge has already resulted in commitments to restore more than 96 million hectares of degraded and deforested land. (See annex and www.bonnchallenge.org for more information.)

With these commitments the Bonn Challenge is well on track to achieving 2020 target. However, ambition and success should not be measured simply in commitments of hectares – what matters most is implementation on the ground. Furthered by these targets and commitments, concrete action in both developing and developed country and the range of partners supporting restoration action is expanding. With this, transformational change is underway and important steps for creating an enabling environment have been taken.

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