News Investigators/ The United Nations has called for annual global ecosystem restoration financing to increase to 296 billion dollars by 2030 to reverse environmental degradation.
The organisation disclosed that 252 million hectares of degraded ecosystems were undergoing restoration across 149 countries.
The findings were contained in a new report launched on Thursday during the UN Biodiversity Conference in Yerevan, Armenia.
The report was jointly published by the UN Environment Programme, Food and Agriculture Organisation and Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity.
It described the restoration activities as the largest documented global effort to rehabilitate degraded ecosystems.
According to the report, the initiatives have already created more than one million green jobs worldwide.
However, the UN warned that existing restoration efforts remained insufficient to achieve international biodiversity targets.
It said annual restoration financing must increase more than fourfold, from 64 billion dollars to 296 billion dollars by 2030.
The organisation estimated that increased investment could generate up to 32 million additional jobs globally.
The report disclosed that Africa accounted for 36.3 million hectares of documented ecosystem restoration activities.
Asia recorded the largest area under restoration, with 192.2 million hectares.
Europe accounted for 9.1 million hectares, while North and Central America recorded 5.8 million hectares.
The UN cautioned that differences between regions reflected reporting capacities, land area and the scale of restoration activities.
It said restoration of freshwater, marine and coastal ecosystems remained particularly inadequate.
Only 11 million hectares of freshwater ecosystems and 5.7 million hectares of marine and coastal ecosystems were documented as undergoing restoration.
The report identified agroforestry, reforestation, peatland restoration and seagrass restoration among major areas requiring investment.
UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen said the international community was witnessing a major expansion in nature restoration.
However, Andersen warned that restoration was not progressing at the scale required to reverse environmental degradation.
The UN consequently urged governments to strengthen financing, monitoring and community participation to achieve international biodiversity commitments.
NAN
