SYLLABUS

GS-3: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.

Context: The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) released the State of the World’s Forests (SOFO) 2026 report, highlighting the importance of scaling up forest and landscape restoration to address climate change, biodiversity loss, land degradation and food insecurity.

Key Findings of the Report

• Global Forest and Land Degradation:

• Extent: More than 460 million hectares (ha) of forests and approximately 1.56 billion ha of land are degraded globally.
• Drivers: Climate change, population growth, urbanisation, infrastructure development, land-use change and rising resource demand.
• Growing pressure: Increasing demand for forest products and ecosystem services is widening the gap between ecological capacity and human needs.
• Economic cost: Inaction on land degradation costs an estimated USD 878 billion to USD 6.3 trillion annually.

• Restoration Progress and Global Targets

• Global commitments: Countries and regional and global initiatives have pledged to place more than 1 billion ha of land under restoration over the past two decades.
• Implementation gap: Progress remains uneven due to financial, governance, monitoring and technical constraints.
• Restoration requirement: At least 470 million hectares need to be brought under restoration to meet global restoration goals by 2030.
• Global Biodiversity Framework: Target 2 of the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework aims to bring at least 30% of degraded terrestrial, inland water, coastal and marine ecosystems under effective restoration by 2030.

• India’s Contribution to Forest and Landscape Restoration: India ranks second globally, with 18.9 million ha under restoration, after China (127.4 million ha), followed by Sudan, Mongolia and Indonesia.

• Regional Distribution of Degraded Land: The report highlights the following figures for degraded land in 2019: 

• Asia: 583 million ha (19%).
• Africa: 334 million ha (12%).
• South America: 245 million ha (14%).

• Benefits of Restoration:

• Climate and biodiversity: Supports climate mitigation and adaptation, carbon storage, habitat recovery and species conservation.
• Food security: Improves soil health, water management, agricultural productivity and agrifood-system resilience.
• Livelihoods: Strengthens rural employment, sustainable value chains and socioeconomic resilience.
• Economic returns: Under favourable conditions, restoration can generate up to USD 30 for every USD 1 invested, although returns vary by context and intervention.

• Monitoring Challenges:

• Fragmented reporting: Different definitions, indicators and methodologies limit comparisons across countries and frameworks.
• Limited impact assessment: Monitoring focuses largely on restored area rather than long-term biodiversity recovery, ecosystem health and socioeconomic outcomes.
• Long-term management: Restoration success requires continued engagement and appropriate management beyond initial interventions.

Recommendations of the Report

• Empower People and Strengthen Rights: Secure land rights, respect Indigenous knowledge and consent, and ensure inclusive participation and fair benefit-sharing.

• Adopt Landscape-Scale Restoration: Integrate agroforestry, natural regeneration and sustainable land management while balancing conservation, production and livelihoods.

• Mobilise Finance and Sustainable Business Models: Mobilise public and private finance, including blended finance, and promote profitable value chains and long-term restoration funding.

• Strengthen Policies and Institutions: Ensure coherent laws and policies, secure land tenure, align fiscal incentives and coordinate institutions.

• Improve Monitoring and Innovation: Standardise indicators, expand geospatial technologies and digital platforms, and track biodiversity, forest health and livelihood outcomes.

About the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)

• The FAO is a specialized United Nations agency established on 16 October 1945 to lead international efforts to defeat hunger. 

• It is headquartered in Rome, Italy, and World Food Day is observed annually on 16 October.

• FAO provides technical expertise in food security, agriculture, forestry, fisheries and rural development, promoting the sustainable management of natural resources.

• FAO has 194 members—193 countries and the European Union—and works in over 130 countries worldwide. 

• It receives funding from member contributions and other sources.

• Three Main Objectives:

• Eradicate hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition.
• Eliminate poverty and advance economic and social progress for all.
• Ensure the sustainable management of natural resources for present and future generations.