In the shade of a broadleaf forest, through a mangrove’s shrouded canals or traversing savannahs, peat lands and pastures, people and wildlife have flourished.

However, we have taken too much from landscapes, through deforestation, intensive farming and overgrazing. Every year we lose 24 billion tonnes of fertile soil and 13 million hectares of forests. Land degradation also contributes to climate change. It threatens diverse landscapes with effects than can be irreversible.

There is a way to restore degraded and deforested landscapes without severing people’s relationship with landscapes and the wildlife that live in it.

Launched by the Government of Germany and IUCN, the Bonn Challenge unites nations and regions in bringing landscapes into restoration, to halt and reverse the effects of land degradation. It empowers people and nations to be stewards of landscapes they depend on – nurturing the land’s health and conserving it for generations to come.

Our goal is to bring 150 million hectares of degraded and deforested lands into restoration by 2020 and 350 million hectares by 2030. If we succeed, we all have a better chance in the following decades to thrive and flourish in the landscapes we call home.