Land restoration is the process of rebuilding the health, productivity, and biodiversity of land that has been degraded, damaged, or destroyed by human activity or natural processes. This includes recovering soil quality, replanting native vegetation, restoring waterways, and reestablishing ecosystems that support biodiversity and human livelihoods.
Land restoration is not simply about planting trees. It encompasses a wide range of approaches tailored to local contexts, from restoring degraded farmland and dryland ecosystems to rehabilitating wetlands and coastal landscapes.
Source: UNCCD, UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021–2030)
Ecosystem restoration is the process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged, or destroyed. It is a broader term that includes the restoration of forests, wetlands, grasslands, coral reefs, rivers and terrestrial ecosystems, of which land restoration is a key component.
The United Nations declared 2021-2030 the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, recognising ecosystem restoration as essential for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Paris Agreement on climate change and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
Source: UNEP, UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration
Land degradation affects more than 3.2 billion people worldwide and costs the global economy an estimated USD 10.6 trillion per year in lost ecosystem services. Restoring degraded land offers a triple win: it addresses the climate crisis, the biodiversity crisis and the food security crisis simultaneously.
Key reasons land restoration matters:
Source: UNCCD, IPBES Land Degradation Assessment 2018
Land degradation is the reduction or loss of the biological or economic productivity of land. It is caused by a combination of human activities, including overgrazing, deforestation, unsustainable agriculture, urban expansion, and pollution as well as natural processes such as erosion and drought.
Land degradation is one of the greatest environmental challenges of our time. Approximately 75% of the Earth’s ice-free land surface has already been significantly altered by human activity, and this continues to accelerate.
These terms are related but distinct:
In practice, many projects blend both approaches, depending on the condition of the land, local needs, and available resources.
Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) is a global target under the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) that aims to ensure that the amount of healthy and productive land remains stable or increases over time. In other words, any new land degradation should be counterbalanced by an equivalent area of land being restored elsewhere.
LDN is one of the key frameworks within which the G20 Global Land Initiative operates, and it aligns with SDG Target 15.3.
Source: UNCCD
The G20 Global Land Initiative (GLI) is an international cooperation program that supports G20 countries and partners in scaling up efforts to restore degraded land, combat desertification, and achieve land degradation neutrality. It was established under the G20 and is implemented in close partnership with the UNCCD.
The GLI works across several areas:
The GLI is a platform for global land restoration partnerships, bringing together governments, civil society, the private sector, academia, and local communities.
The G20, or Group of Twenty, is an international forum of the world’s major economies. It brings together 19 countries and the European Union, representing around 85% of global GDP, 75% of international trade, and two-thirds of the world’s population. The G20 addresses major global economic, environmental, and development challenges, including climate change, land degradation, and sustainable development.
The G20 Global Land Initiative is one of the G20’s flagship environmental cooperation initiatives, reflecting the G20’s commitment to addressing land degradation as part of broader goals for climate resilience and sustainable development.
Terrestrial ecosystems — forests, wetlands, grasslands, and soils — store vast quantities of carbon. When land is degraded, this carbon is released into the atmosphere as CO2, contributing to climate change. Restoring degraded land reverses this process: healthy soils and vegetation absorb and store carbon, making land restoration one of the most cost-effective natural climate solutions available.
Land restoration also builds climate resilience by stabilising soils against erosion, regulating water cycles, reducing the risk of droughts and floods, and protecting agricultural systems from climate shocks.
The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021–2030) is a global initiative led by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). It aims to prevent, halt, and reverse the degradation of ecosystems worldwide, with a goal of restoring 1 billion hectares of land by 2030.
The Decade is aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals, the Paris Agreement, and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. The G20 Global Land Initiative is an active contributor to the goals of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.
Source: UNEP, FAO
Land restoration is happening at scale across the world. Some notable examples including global organisations and communities are:
Efforts are underway for countless other small-medium-large scale projects. The G20 GLI documents and shares best practices in land restoration from G20 countries and partner nations.
The private sector is increasingly recognised as essential to scaling up land restoration globally. Business models built on sustainable land management, from regenerative agriculture and sustainable forestry to ecosystem services markets and blended finance mechanisms are creating what is often called the restoration economy.
The G20 GLI actively promotes private sector land restoration investment and works with businesses, investors, and entrepreneurs to identify land restoration investment opportunities and sustainable land business models. The GLI’s Restoration Returns grants program provides funding to civil society organisations and supports community-led restoration projects that can attract further private investment.
Youth engagement in ecosystem restoration is central to the G20 GLI’s work. Young people are not only the most affected by land degradation and climate change, they are also among the most innovative and committed actors driving solutions.
The GLI’s Generation Restoration Dialogues series brings together young environmental leaders, ecopreneurs, and innovators for global conversations on land and climate solutions. The Trigger Change! University courses on sustainable agriculture and urban land restoration equip students with practical tools for addressing land degradation in their communities and careers.
Through youth ecopreneurship programs and green economy initiatives, the GLI supports young innovators in building sustainable businesses and careers in the restoration sector.
The Rio Conventions are three legally binding international agreements that emerged from the 1992 Earth Summit: the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). Together, they form the global policy framework for addressing climate change, biodiversity loss, and land degradation, all of which are deeply interconnected.
Land restoration contributes to targets under all three Rio Conventions. The G20 GLI works in close synergy with the UNCCD and supports countries in achieving their commitments under all three conventions simultaneously.
There are several ways to engage with the G20 Global Land Initiative: