More than a dozen African country governments pledged to restore 100 million hectares of the continent’s natural forests by 2030 during the United Nations climate talks on Dec. 6, according to The Associated Press.
More than a dozen African country governments pledged to restore 100 million hectares of the continent’s natural forests by 2030 during the United Nations climate talks on Dec. 6, according to The Associated Press.
The initiative, AFR100, is unprecedented, Wanjira Mathai, daughter of the late Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize winner and environmentalist Wangari Maathai, told the AP.
“I have seen restoration in communities both large and small across Africa, but the promise of a continent-wide movement is truly inspiring,” Mathai said. “Restoring landscapes will empower and enrich rural communities while providing downstream benefits to those in cities. Everybody wins.”
African countries including Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi have pledged millions of acres to the project, while West African countries bordering the Sahara desert have also said they would plant more trees to stop the desert from encroaching on arable land, according to the AP.
“Restoring our landscapes brings prosperity, security and opportunity,” Vincent Biruta, Rwanda’s minister of natural resources, told the AP. “With forest landscape restoration we’ve seen agricultural yields rise and farmers in our rural communities diversify their livelihoods and improve their well-being. Forest landscape restoration is not just an environmental strategy, it is an economic and social development strategy as well.”