At the UN Climate Change Conference COP25 in Madrid last month, ministers from the Latin America region announced bold new action on efforts to tackle greenhouse gas emissions.
Ministers of 6 countries, including Argentina, Colombia, Peru, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Uruguay, and led by the President of the Conference, Minister Carolina Schmidt of Chile, committed to place 50 million hectares of land under restoration by 2030.
This ambitious goal reflects the significant progress already made to restore lands by partners to Initiative 20x20. Private impact investment funds and public efforts linked to the Initiative have already initiated over 100 restoration projects across more than 19 million hectares of degraded land.
The focus of Latin American governments on restoration as a climate action shows their ambition to transform the land-use sector, which contributes the most to regional carbon emissions. It also shows their commitment to more cost-effective productive activities based on land that are compatible with the regional and global climate agenda.
The Declaration for Restoration provides both clear political resolve and a path forward to build on the current success countries have achieved through Initiative 20x20.
Read the Declaration here (in Spanish).