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Ecosystem restoration: 252 million hectares now under repair, but funding must quadruple, UN says

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Ecosystem restoration is now under way on some 252 million hectares of land and sea across 149 countries, an area roughly the size of Kazakhstan, according to a UN report launched on Thursday, 29 October 2026 at the COP17 biodiversity conference in Yerevan, Armenia.

ecosystem restoration: Restoration work in Brazil's Cerrado, including natural regeneration, direct seeding and agroforestry with native species
Restoration work in Brazil's Cerrado, including natural regeneration, direct seeding and agroforestry with native species Photo: © UNEP/Todd Brown via UN News (editorial use with credit).

What the UN ecosystem restoration report found

The report, Nature’s comeback – Scaling ecosystem restoration for people and planet, was published by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the UN biodiversity secretariat. UN News said it is the largest documented restoration effort of its kind to date, and that more than one million green jobs have been created in the process. The examples range from salmon spawning grounds in Canada to coral reefs in Indonesia. “Today, we are witnessing the makings of one of the largest movements for nature in recorded history,” said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP. The report comes at the halfway point of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, which runs to 2030.

Key Facts

  • Area under restoration: 252 million hectares in 149 countries
  • Green jobs created: more than 1 million
  • Funding needed: $296 billion a year (now $64 billion)
  • Jobs possible by 2030: up to 32 million
  • Launched: COP17, Yerevan, 29 October 2026

“We cannot expect to fix nature with one hand while we destroy it with the other one.”

— Astrid Schomaker, CBD Executive Secretary

COP17 and the Kunming-Montreal targets

The report assesses progress on a global commitment to restore around one billion hectares of land, roughly the size of China, by 2030, and to bring 30 per cent of the world’s ecosystems under conservation, in line with the 2022 Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. Meeting these targets needs rapid acceleration, particularly in freshwater, marine and coastal ecosystems, the agencies said. Restoration of land ecosystems has reached nearly half of the 30 per cent target, but marine and coastal restoration has been far more limited. “Five years into the UN Decade, the message is clear: restoration works,” said FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu.

Funding gap: from $64 billion to $296 billion a year

Annual funding for restoration needs to rise more than fourfold, from $64 billion to $296 billion, an investment that could create up to 32 million jobs worldwide by 2030, the report said. UN News noted research suggesting that restoring just 15 per cent of global priority areas could prevent 60 per cent of projected species extinctions, while 30 per cent of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions could also be sequestered. The report said restoration must be sustained long enough to allow ecosystems and biodiversity to recover while delivering lasting benefits for communities. “We cannot expect to fix nature with one hand while we destroy it with the other one,” said Astrid Schomaker, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity. She urged governments to tackle the drivers of degradation and invest in monitoring so that the restoration movement lasts. Helping nature recover is essential for food and water security, climate resilience, jobs and wellbeing, UN News said.

Why It Matters: Restored forests, wetlands and coasts support food and water security and climate resilience, and countries including India have made large land-restoration pledges.

Also on TrendDesh: COP17 biodiversity talks open in Yerevan as UN says fewer than half of nature targets are on track · Ocean carbon sink has weakened by about six per cent due to climate change, UN report warns

Source: UN News: Nature is making a comeback · UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration · Convention on Biological Diversity

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