African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative (AFR100)
Africa restoring 100 million hectares of deforested and degraded land by 2030
The African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative (AFR100) is a country-led effort to bring 100 million hectares of deforested and degraded landscapes across Africa into restoration by 2030. The initiative connects political partners—participating African nations—with technical and financial support to scale up restoration on the ground and capture associated benefits for food security, climate change resilience, and poverty alleviation.
AFR100 responds to the African Union mandate to bring 100 million hectares of degraded land into restoration by 2030. The initiative contributes to the achievement of domestic environment and development commitments, the Bonn Challenge, and Land Degradation Neutrality target-setting process among other targets. AFR100 contributes to the African Resilient Landscapes Initiative (ARLI), and complements the African Landscapes Action Plan (ALAP) and the broader Climate Change, Biodiversity and Land Degradation (LDBA) program of the African Union. AFR100 accelerates progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris climate agreement.
A dynamic network of political, technical, and financial partners facilitate action towards the 100 million ha restoration target. To date 28 African nations have signed onto AFR100 and committed a combined 113 million hectares of land to be restored. Twelve financial partners and twenty-eight technical partners support partner countries to assess restoration opportunities, develop strategies, and accelerate implementation on the ground. Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) supports the AFR100 platform and in-country engagement, alongside partners including the World Bank, which has earmarked $1 billion in development finance through the Africa Climate Business Plan, and impact investors, which have earmarked USD $481 million in private finance for restoration.
Please contact the AFR100 Secretariat at the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) for more information, or see the AFR100 Overview Document in English and French.
In addition to new financing, a coalition of organizations will provide technical assistance on a wide range of activities, including the mapping of restoration opportunities, securing further financing, and providing catalytic support for the implementation of restoration efforts on the ground.
The main actors in implementation of restoration are farmers, herders, resource user groups, local leaders and other actors in rural communities, along with supporting stakeholders such as the private sector, NGOs and government agencies working at different levels.
Partners include:
- Catholic Relief Services (CRS)
- CIFOR
- CIRAD
- Conservation International (CI)
- Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)
- EverGreening Alliance
- Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
- Heinz Sielmann Stiftung
- International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT)
- International Tree Foundation
- International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
- Jane Goodall Institute (JGI)
- Justdiggit
- Kijani Forests for Change
- New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD Agency)
- Partnership for Forests (P4F)
- Solidaridad Network
- The Greenbelt Movement
- The Landscapes for People, Food and Nature Initiative (LPFN)
- The Nature Conservancy (TNC)
- United Nations Development Programme: South Africa Country Office (UNDP-RSA)
- United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
- UNIQUE Forestry and Land Use gmbh (UNIQUE)
- WeForest
- World Agroforestry Center (ICRAF)
- World Resources Institute (WRI)
- World Vision
- World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)
Technical partners are meant to enhance technical support and coordination through:
- Technical support for mapping, monitoring, economics, finance, enabling conditions
- Regular convenings to share lessons, tools, approaches and results
- Learning exchanges for first-hand learning and perspectives from peers