The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) have named seven initiatives from Africa, Latin America, the Mediterranean, and South Asia as UN World Restoration Flagships. The seven initiatives also includes Terai Arc Landscape and Acción Andina .
- The projects revolve around revival and preservation of ecosystems at the tipping point of outright degradation caused by wildfires, drought, deforestation and pollution.
- It makes the initiatives eligible for technical and financial support from the organisation.
- The World Restoration Flagship awards are part of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration – led by UNEP and FAO. It aims to prevent, halt, and reverse the degradation of ecosystems on every continent and in every ocean.
Terai Arc Landscape initiative
- Over seven million people depend on the Terai Arc Landscape, stretching across 5.10 million hectares and shared by India and Nepal.
- It is also one of the world’s most critical habitats for tigers along with those of other species such as rhinos and elephants.
- The Terai Arc Landscape initiative aimed to restore the forests of critical corridors of the Terai Arc Landscape in collaboration with local communities working as citizen scientists, community-based anti-poaching units, forest guards, among others.
- Measures like the restoration of 66,800 hectares of Nepal’s forests, among others, were said to improve the livelihoods of about 500,000 households in the country, the UN bodies observed.
Acción Andina
- Acción Andina is protecting a critical ecosystem and championing community-led restoration of nature in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Perú.
- The Acción Andina social movement is inspired by Peruvian conservation non- profit organisation, ECOAN.
