For the first time, Central and South American countries have declared forest restoration a common political goal. During an international conference on forest restoration in El Salvador, environment ministers of Central and South American countries agreed to strengthen cooperation in this area. The conference was held as part of the Bonn Challenge, a global platform for action on forest restoration launched by the Federal Environment Ministry (BMUB), and was officially opened by State Secretary at the BMUB Jochen Flasbarth and the Environment Minister of El Salvador.
Flasbarth announced further support for Central American countries in the field of forest conservation. "After a century of forest destruction it is high time we counteracted this trend. Through the Bonn Challenge we hope to restore 150 million hectares of the world's forests by 2020." Flasbarth welcomed the pledge made by Central American countries at the regional conference to restore a further five million hectors of forest. Central American forests account for less than one percent of global land surface area, but are home to eight percent of the world's biodiversity and as such these forests have very high levels of biodiversity. This unique habitat is under threat due to the felling of 280.000 hectares of forest each year, a surface area roughly the size of the Saarland. The BMUB is supporting the restoration of forest landscapes in Central America through its International Climate Initiative (IKI). The Bonn Challenge is the most important international initiative for the restoration of forests and forest landscapes. It provides important impetus for global climate action and biodiversity conservation and, through forest restoration, creates new foundations of life for people, especially in developing countries. Since 2011, the Federal Environment Ministry has helped developing countries implement the Bonn Challenge with approximately 50 million euros through the International Climate Initiative.