UNEP High-level session at the Global Landscapes Forum: The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration – Why now? What’s next?

What: In 2019, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution to declare the years 2021-2030 the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. The resolution was supported enthusiastically by more than 70 countries. The concept of restoration and the Decade’s goals of preventing, halting and reversing the loss of ecosystems has since captured the imagination of many.

But much has happened in the last two years: The planet is in the grip of a pandemic, affecting economies worldwide and putting increasing pressures on the most marginalized and vulnerable members of society. All the while, biodiversity loss and the impacts of climate change are continuing at a staggering pace.

The recently released Global Biodiversity Outlook 5 makes it clear that the world has failed in meeting its biodiversity targets. And the devastating news about lives and habitats lost to wildfires and extreme weather events paint an all-to-real picture of the impacts of continuing climate change.

Against this backdrop, the high-level session will bring together leading voices from science, policy, and indigenous communities to highlight what is at stake while outlining a pathway forward.

Speakers:

• Musonda Mumba, Chief of the Terrestrial Ecosystems Unit, UNEP
• Sir Robert Watson,  Environmental scientist
• Professor Fekadu Beyene Aleka Commissioner, Environment, Forest and Climate Change Commission (EFCCC) of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE).
• Niria Alicia Garcia, Xicana human rights advocate, climate justice organizer, educator and storyteller
• Johan Rockström, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Professor in Earth System Science at the University of Potsdam

When: Wednesday, 28 October 2020; 14:00 – 14:45 CET

Where: Online - Register here

Find more information here.

Contact person: Ann-Kathrin Neureuther (UNEP), ann-kathrin.neureuther@un.org