The United Nations Decade for Ecosystem Restoration is underway!

The United Nations Decade is a call by the United Nations to all countries of the world to unite and act for the Earth's ecosystems. For it is only in a healthy ecosystem that we can thrive as a human species.

The purpose of this call is to create political momentum and global initiatives for ecosystem restoration. Ecosystem restoration is in the interest of both nature and people.

For the decade 2021-2030, we give ourselves another chance to stop the loss of nature and rebuild a healthy environment that benefits humans. How do we do this?

Through systemic change. Environmental protection goes beyond planting trees or creating protected areas. It must include sustainable livelihoods, reproductive rights, strong health and education systems, anti-corruption initiatives and more.  

Tiana Ramahaleo, Conservation Director, WWF Madagascar: "These issues need to be explored, shared and addressed if we are to make this decade of restoration a success.” 

Moreover, the current circumstances can facilitate these changes: a political will to re-green the island, the value of Madagascar's natural capital which is being evaluated, the emancipation of various civil societies... WWF's commitment to ensuring that humans can live in harmony with nature joins this call for the protection and restoration of vital ecosystems globally and in Madagascar. WWF has 60 years of experience in protecting and restoring nature. We are committed to working with the Malagasy people to provide scientific and technical support for the successful restoration of Madagascar's degraded biodiversity. The forest landscape restoration is certainly the process that legitimizes WWF's contribution to the United Nations Decade for Ecosystem Restoration. A recent WWF report on forest landscape restoration around the world shows that restoration has multiple social, economic and environmental benefits. It must be implemented in close collaboration with communities to be sustainable. Forest landscape restoration is a planned process that aims to restore ecological functionality and improve human well-being in degraded forest landscapes.

As a reminder, World Environment Day 2021 was celebrated on June 5, under an appropriate theme "Ecosystem Restoration”.

Leader’s pledge for nature: let's take action!

Last May, 84 heads of state signed the Leader’s pledge for nature, launched in September 2020.

The signatory countries of the pledge for nature must take action and translate their commitment into a series of actions. The real will to reverse the loss of biodiversity must be visible before the next UN assembly with the Conferences of the Parties on Biodiversity and Climate this year. Indeed, the signatories must ensure "an ambitious and transformative global framework for biodiversity beyond 2020" at the 2021 COP15 on biological biodiversity in China.

Ultimately, these actions and commitments for nature that are being developed around the world are beneficial for all of humanity.  For Madagascar, the Government has already demonstrated a real willingness to promote sustainable development, particularly through the green and blue economy. Moreover, on June 8^th, we celebrated the World Oceans Day under the theme "the ocean: life and livelihood". "Madagascar, being an island, has 5,600 km of coastline and more than 1,140,000 km² of ocean, home to various marine resources that are sources of food and employment and therefore income for many people in the country, especially fishing communities.  Also, the emergence of a sustainable blue economy depends on it because if exploited sustainably, these resources can support the dynamism of the fishing industry and other important industries using the oceans. Therefore, it seems important to me to seek more integrated management of the oceans for their key role in building sustainable development and to seek to preserve this natural ecosystem which is currently threatened with waste and various pollution from human activities. Let us seize this day of the oceans to act together in their favor" said the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Lucien Ranarivelo.

A multi-stakeholder campaign to encourage action and ambition

Other non-state actors are joining the heads of state as partners in the Leader's Pledge for Nature. Their goal is to build ambition within government, business and society, and to put nature and biodiversity loss issues in the spotlight before these key events. This joint race reinforces an advocacy that links climate, nature and people.

Moreover, we are in a situation of global emergency. Human activities are destabilizing our climate and destroying the natural systems on which we depend faster than they can be replenished. This new race to the bottom is an opportunity to take ambitious, integrated and transformative actions and decisions on our environmental challenges to create an equitable, nature-friendly and carbon-neutral world for all. Madagascar's signing of the leader’s pledge for nature is more relevant and necessary than ever.