About The Challenge

The Bonn Challenge is a global goal to bring 150 million hectares of degraded and deforested landscapes into restoration by 2020 and 350 million hectares by 2030. Launched by the Government of Germany and IUCN in 2011, the Challenge surpassed the 150-million-hectare milestone for pledges in 2017.

We respond to the urgent issue of land degradation affecting over 3 billion people and over 30 per cent of Earth’s arable land. We do this by working with countries, organisations and private entities to pledge and achieve ambitious targets to restore degraded and deforested lands.

We align our work with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, the Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) goal, and the Paris Climate Change Agreement – all together providing a roadmap for a sustainable planet. 


To achieve these goals, we rely on a flexible, nuanced approach to restoration called forest landscape restoration (FLR). FLR restores ecological integrity while enhancing human well-being.

IUCN and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) coined the term forest landscape restoration in 2000 as a framework for managing landscapes, complementing both forest conservation and sustainable management. Since then, FLR has evolved into a powerful nature-based solution, transforming landscapes and the lives of people worldwide. Read more about FLR here.

Map of pledges

Countries involved
61
Pledges made
74
Map of pledges
29
1
6
31
7

 

Countries and organisations energised by the Bonn Challenge have fostered regional political and technical cooperation spaces to share expertise and lessons learnt. These initiatives include the African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative (AFR100), Initiative 20x20 in Latin America and the Caribbean, ECCA30 in Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia, and the Agadir Commitment in the Mediterranean region. 

 

Learn more

People Behind the Challenge

Carole Saint-Laurent

Head, Bonn Challenge Secretariat

Swati Hingorani

Global Coordinator, Bonn Challenge Secretariat

Adriana Vidal

Latin America Coordinator

Jochen Flasbarth

State Secretary at the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety

Bianca Jagger

Ambassador