Initiative 20x20’s secretariat, World Resources Institute, has secured additional funding from the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU), to deepen the support for three priority countries, Argentina, Ecuador and Uruguay. These countries have substantial restoration ambitions of 1, 0.5 and 2.5 million hectares, respectively, and show great potential for providing lessons of global value to the restoration movement.
Argentina and Uruguay play a critical role in the region as large food producers that could benefit from a diverse set of restoration interventions, especially grassland and riparian area restoration. Ecuador is now working on a revised national restoration strategy, specifically restoring priority areas of its tropical Andean forests. This new BMU funding will help with the development and completion of national strategic plans to define restoration objectives and interventions, identify funding gaps and innovative financial mechanisms, and define a time horizon to achieve the desired impacts.
With this funding, Argentina, Ecuador, and Uruguay are better equipped to meet their ambitious Bonn Challenge and Initiative 20x20 commitments. The funding will also help these three countries become more regionally integrated with the Latin American and Caribbean region through the extensive Initiative 20x20 platform, which has been critical in making forest and landscape restoration a top priority for Ministries of Environment and Agriculture.