The United Nations recognized three ecosystem restoration programs in Brazil, the Sahel and Saudi Arabia as World Restoration Flagships on Wednesday, highlighting projects that together aim to restore almost 5 million hectares by 2030. The awards were presented at the UN Convention to Combat Desertification COP17 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, as governments examined links between damaged land, drought, food supplies and economic stability.
The UN Environment Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organization jointly lead the awards under the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, which runs from 2021 to 2030. UNEP said the three programs support international promises to restore 1 billion hectares this decade. They join 24 earlier honorees, bringing the recognized network to 27 initiatives whose progress will be tracked through the Framework for Ecosystem Restoration Monitoring.
In Brazil, the Araticum Initiative coordinates more than 180 organizations, Indigenous peoples, local communities, farmers, researchers and public institutions across nine states to restore the Cerrado savanna. By June 2026, work covered more than 27,000 hectares and used seeds collected from over 150 native plant species. Natural regeneration, direct seeding and agroforestry are among the methods intended to expand restoration to 2 million hectares by 2030.
Saudi Arabia's National Greening Program had brought 1 million hectares under restoration and planted 159 million trees by June, according to UNEP. Its 2030 goals include restoring 2.5 million hectares, planting 215 million trees and generating as many as 187,000 jobs. The program combines reforestation, controlled grazing, wildlife reintroduction, rainwater harvesting and treated wastewater across deserts, forests, rangelands, cities and coastal ecosystems.
The Sahel Integrated Resilience Initiative operates in Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger, where conflict and climate pressures compound land degradation and food insecurity. Led by the World Food Programme, it had restored more than 335,000 hectares by June and targets 470,000 hectares by 2030. UNEP said its mix of soil and water management, livelihood assistance and school feeding has benefited more than 4 million people, including refugees arriving from Sudan.
UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen said healthy land can defend food systems against climate change, drought, desertification and geopolitical strains, while FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu linked restoration to food security, biodiversity and land-degradation goals. UNCCD says degradation already affects up to 40 percent of global land. The agency's COP17 gathering continues through August 28, with delegates from its 197 parties discussing how to turn tested restoration approaches into financed action at wider scale.
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