CPI Director Jane Wilkinson gave a presentation on ‘Opportunities to scale up investment in sustainable land use’ at this ministerial roundtable convened by the Government of Rwanda, the East African Community (EAC) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The roundtable sought to build regional cooperation on the Bonn Challenge a global effort to restore 150 million hectares of deforested and degraded lands by 2020 and 350 million hectares by 2030.

The roundtable highlighted the multiple benefits of forest landscape restoration and its potential to help countries tackle poverty, improve food and energy security, and mitigate climate change.

Land restoration pledges so far comprise 2 million hectares from the Republic of Guinea, 3.5 million hectares from the Central African Republic, 5 million hectares from Côte d’Ivoire, 2 million hectares from Ghana, and 2 million hectares from the Republic of Congo. New pledges brought the total amount of land commitments made by countries, companies and organisations for restoration under the Bonn Challenge to over 107 million hectares.