Airbus has joined the world’s largest reforestation and land restoration initiative – the Bonn Challenge – which aims to restore 150 million hectares of degraded land by 2020.
The European planemaker and International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) have launched the ‘Plant a Pledge’ campaign, which asks people around the world to sign a petition supporting the restoration project. The petition can be signed at plantapledge.com.
Other activities are to follow, leading to the petition’s delivery to world leaders at the UN Climate Change Convention at Doha in November. The announcement of the Plant a Pledge campaign results will be announced in May 2013.
Airbus and the IUCN are hoping the petition will encourage government agencies and corporations form a firm policy and strategy regarding land restoration. Additionally, the IUCN and the Global Partnership on Forest Landscape Restoration – which is leading the Bonn Challenge – will be working with governments and organisations to solidify commitments.
The Bonn Challenge was formed in September 2011 when government officials, business leaders and environmental experts met in Germany and pledged to restore the 150 million hectares of land – the biggest restoration project ever proposed worldwide.
This restoration effort will contribute to the broader ‘Target 15’ of the Convention on Biological Diversity, which has the goal of restoring 15% of the world’s degraded ecosystems by 2020.
Recent estimates have also shown that restoring 150 million hectares of former forest land would add the equivalent of US$85 billion annually into national and global economies. It would also help slow down climate change and create economic opportunities through agriculture.
