4 publishers · first seen Thu, 29 Oct 2026 07:03 UTC · updated Fri, 30 Oct 2026 02:40 UTC
A UN report published during the biodiversity COP17 summit in Armenia reveals that 252 million hectares across 149 countries are under ecosystem restoration, the largest documented global effort to date. This includes 232 million hectares of terrestrial areas, 11 million hectares of freshwater ecosystems, and 5.7 million hectares of marine and coastal ecosystems. China leads with 137 million hectares of land under restoration, followed by Mongolia, Kazakhstan and Ethiopia.
The report, co-published by FAO, UNEP and the CBD, assesses progress toward the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework target of restoring 30 percent of degraded ecosystems by 2030. It finds that current efforts fall short, requiring a tripling of the pace and a sharp increase in funding, especially for aquatic ecosystems. Restoration has created one million green jobs, with a projected rise to 32 million by 2030.
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