New pledges at the IUCN World Conservation Congress
The Bonn Challenge, initiated by the Federal Government, is already showing positive results. There are now commitments from 36 countries, organisations and businesses to restore approximately 113 million hectares of endangered forests. This weekend, Malawi and the Association of Guatemalan Private Natural Reserves announced pledges for the restoration of 4 million hectares of forests. "The action platform Bonn Challenge to restore forests, initiated by the Federal Government in 2011, is showing positive results. After only five years, there are pledges to restore more than 100 million hectares of forests. This corresponds to an area three times the size of Germany", said Rita Schwarzelühr-Sutter, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Environment Ministry, at the IUCN World Conservation Congress, the largest conference of its kind in the world.
The Bonn Challenge - the most important international platform for action for forest restoration - is now bringing together a growing group of committed countries. Indonesia, China, Brazil, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Rwanda and South Korea are working with donor countries such as Germany and Norway and committed companies and organisations to restore 150 million hectares of forests and landscapes by the year 2020, especially in the threatened forest regions in the tropics and subtropics. A new Bonn Challenge Barometer of Progress will help six pilot countries put their national commitments into action in the future.
Ms. Schwarzelühr-Sutter said: "Only through the restoration and conservation of the remaining forests can we reach the global climate targets. The Bonn Challenge is making an important contribution in this area." The Federal Environment Ministry has so far supported over 25 projects for the restoration of forests and provided almost 90 million euros from the International Climate Initiative (ICI). By 2020, the Federal Environment Ministry will make available another 200 million euros in support from the ICI.
The IUCN World Conservation Congress takes place every four years and is the world's largest conservation congress. At the request of US President Barack Obama, the congress is meeting in Hawaii this year from 1 to 10 September.