Landscape restoration as an effective way to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals

On September 25th 2015, countries adopted the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development with a total of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Each goal has specific targets to be achieved over the next 15 years.

Our landscape restoration programs result in a wide array of bankable and non-bankable benefits, closely aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals and with huge positive socio-economic impacts, besides addressing climate change and biodiversity loss, two of the major challenges of our time.

We also make contributions to further Sustainable Development Goals:

SDG 3: Good health and well-being
Healthy landscapes increase physical and mental health and human well-being and provide with medicinal resources.

SDG 4: Quality education
Biodiversity loss can negatively impact access to education, while increasing income through landscape restoration increases access to education.

SDG 5: Gender quality
Ecosystem performance is not gender-neutral, restoring landscapes and climate change adaptation can help reduce gender inequalities.

SDG 7: Affordable and clean energy
The transition towards renewable energy relies to an extent on functioning ecosystems, especially for the world’s poor.

SDG 10: Reduced inequalities
As failing ecosystems often hit the poor the hardest, restoring landscapes benefits the bottom 40 per cent of the global population.

SDG 11: Sustainable cities and communities
The world’s growing and urbanizing population depends on resilient rural areas and communities, while exerting additional pressure on landscapes.

SDG 12: Responsible consumption and production
Restoring productivity through Sustainable Land Management is integral to responsible and sustainable food production.

SDG 14: Life below water
Restoring degraded drylands can reduce soil-erosion induced eutrophication of lakes and oceans and reverse below water biodiversity loss.

SDG 16: Peace, justice and strong institutions
Combatting desertification through restoration of drylands addresses one of the major drivers of migration and conflict.

SDG 17: Partnerships for the goals
Landscape restoration requires multi-stakeholder engagement and therefore fosters new partnerships.

Additional information:

Here you find our whitepaper explaining the mechanisms behind the benefits of landscape restoration and provides insights in the scale at which these benefits can be achieved.