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The Restoration Initiative (TRI): Uniting for Nature to Build Climate Resilience and Combat Land Degradation

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In response to pressing climate and environmental challenges, The Restoration Initiative (TRI) is advancing conservation, restoration, and sustainable land management on a global scale. With the forest and land-use sector (excluding agriculture) responsible for roughly 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions, TRI underscores the potential for nature-based solutions—such as forest and mangrove restoration—to reduce emissions and remove carbon from the atmosphere and ensure that these ecosystems’ degradation is halted and recovered to be a harbor of biodiversity.

Since 2018, TRI has launched ten projects across nine countries, collaborating with three Global Environment Facility (GEF) agencies—the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)—alongside governments and strategic partners. These collaborations address biodiversity loss, climate impacts, and land degradation, supporting global restoration targets like those of the Bonn Challenge.

To date, TRI has implemented projects across Africa and Asia, bringing over 355,672 hectares of land under restoration and placing more than 715,164 hectares under sustainable management. These initiatives have positively impacted over 810,526 people, reduced greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 27.4 million tCO2eq, and supported the adoption of over 62 policies to strengthen forest and landscape restoration efforts. “TRI represents a significant advancement in global efforts to combat biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation. Through science-based strategies and community engagement, TRI is building resilient ecosystems that can better withstand climate challenges,” said Prof. Lu Zhi, Executive Director of the Peking University Center for Nature and Society and UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration Advisory Board member.… Read the rest

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New PANORAMA Solutions In Focus publication presents TRI Policy Impacts

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The policy impacts of the ten country projects of The Restoration Initiative (TRI) are the theme of the new PANORAMA Solutions In Focus publication:

This publication highlights the diverse strategies adopted by country teams to overcome the challenges they faced and to build an enabling policy environment for forest and landscape restoration (FLR). The publication covers the common challenges encountered by TRI countries, the policy-influencing strategies they employed to tackle these hurdles, the success factors, and the long-term impact achieved. The policy-influencing strategies include assisting in formulating and negotiating policy, conducting policy reviews, creating knowledge, and establishing stakeholder platforms to facilitate inclusive engagement in these strategies.

Common challenges at the outset of TRI

TRI is implemented in countries with diverse ecosystems – from arid lands, tropical forests to mangroves – and with particular realities regarding restoration policy, legal and governance structures, information availability, financial and technical resources, and restoration knowledge or awareness. However, there were some notable similarities in the challenges TRI countries experienced at the outset.

The first of these challenges was the need for more political will among government officials to prioritise FLR initiatives. Another common issue was the need for more public awareness about the severity of forest degradation and deforestation and the principles that guide high-quality ecosystem restoration. In Cameroon, for instance, some officials viewed restoration as a measurement of forest surface area, while others viewed it as an ecosystem function.

Lastly, insufficient technical, financial, and administrative resources posed a significant barrier to policy development. In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), local coordinators and provincial bodies initially lacked the financial, political, and administrative capacity to push policies through the approval process.… Read the rest

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Empowering Women Through Environmental Restoration: The Restoration Initiative’s Impact

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The Restoration Initiative (TRI) has been at the forefront of environmental restoration efforts for many years, with projects spanning far and wide across the world. TRI strives to overcome existing barriers to sustainable restoration and works to rejuvenate some of the globe’s degraded landscapes, largely through empowering local communities with a particular focus on indigenous women. Women empowerment plays an integral role in community based sustainable development, with the ability to enhance community resilience and promote gender equality. TRI’s various projects have uplifted women across the globe, recognizing the critical link between gender empowerment and environmental restoration. 

Three Kalash women in traditional clothing of Indigenous Peoples of Pakistan’s Chitral region © FAO/ Faizul Bari

Tanzania: Empowering Women in Sustainable Farming

In Ilalasimba village, Tanzania, women engage primarily in subsistence farming to sustain their livelihoods. In recent years, various challenges like deteriorating soil and poor farming practices have resulted in low yields, subsequently taking a toll on the local community. Without adequate crops or cattle numbers, women have had to rely more heavily on forest resources to meet family needs. 

Some of the women in Ilalasimba were also part of the community groups, such as the Village Natural Resources Committee, that make them part of the group of decision makers and drivers of restoration activities. Through this, they identified milk production as a key area of necessary support and this ensured support for the local women’s group in farming and livestock keeping as alternative and sustainable income-generating activities. To support the women’s community in Ilalasimba, TRI alongside the community groups has introduced improved cattle breeds to the village and advised subsistence farmers on how to care for and raise the livestock more effectively.… Read the rest

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Forest and Landscape Restoration: Valuable insights from The Restoration Initiative on the ground

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In a recent webinar hosted by The Restoration Initiative (TRI), the power of collaboration and shared learning was evident, emphasizing their crucial roles in advancing forest and landscape restoration. Since its inception in 2018, TRI has united ten projects across nine countries, partnering with three Global Environment Facility agencies—the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)—as well as governments and strategic partners to tackle barriers to restoring degraded landscapes in support of the Bonn Challenge.

During TRI’s recent webinar, teams representing the diverse in-country projects – situated in Cameroon, the Central African Republic, China, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya ASAL, Kenya Tana Delta, Pakistan, São Tomé and Príncipe, and the United Republic of Tanzania – shared practical experiences and insights on best practices tailored to their specific contexts and challenges. This gathering showcased a wealth of perspectives, providing valuable insights into TRI’s impactful initiatives.

Engaging TRI Practitioners 

Hearing the experiences and challenges faced by project managers and teams on the ground is invaluable to support the success and sustainability of restoration efforts under TRI. These teams have been at the forefront of implementing restoration activities, navigating complex ecological, social, and economic landscapes. Their insights provided crucial lessons about what works and what doesn’t in real-world settings, helping to refine strategies and approaches to restoration. 

Understanding their challenges allows for the identification of barriers that may hinder progress, such as resource constraints, community engagement issues, or policy gaps.… Read the rest

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The Restoration Initiative (TRI) Leads the Charge Against Biodiversity Loss with Innovative Restoration Efforts

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In response to the growing crisis of biodiversity loss, The Restoration Initiative (TRI) is making significant progress in restoring ecosystems and promoting sustainable land management practices worldwide. This effort comes as the 16th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) will convene from 21 October – 1 November 2024.

The ongoing loss of biodiversity not only threatens the resilience of ecosystems but also the well-being of communities globally. TRI is committed to reversing the impacts of deforestation and land degradation, thereby safeguarding biodiversity for future generations.

Over the next week, TRI will be showcased at a number of events at CBD COP16 (listed below), to demonstrate how ecosystem restoration can be done, while reflecting on the impact of our work and experiences in monitoring, financing and policy influencing. 

Since its inception in 2018, TRI has united ten projects across nine countries, collaborating with three Global Environment Facility agencies—the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)—along with governments and strategic partners to overcome existing barriers to restoring degraded landscapes, in support of the Bonn Challenge.

TRI has implemented projects across Africa and Asia, successfully bringing under restoration over 355,672 hectares of land and placing more than 715,164 hectares under sustainable management. These efforts have further empowered over 810,526 people, mitigated greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 27.4 million tCO2eq, and led to the strengthening and adoption of over 62 policies in support of forest and landscape restoration across various countries.… Read the rest

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Two new reports showcase the assessment results and practical applications of the Species Threat Abatement and Restoration (STAR) metric in TRI projects

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Two new reports present the practical applications of the STAR metric to drive conservation and restoration efforts in four of The Restoration Initiative’s (TRI) projects. The first is a knowledge brief that builds on an earlier STAR assessment in Kenya and Cameroon, showcasing how the STAR metric has been applied to drive strategies and initiatives for species conservation efforts in three different projects in these two countries. The second report presents the STAR assessment results from four project sites in the Central African Republic (CAR) and provides crucial insights into how the policy integration of forest and landscape restoration (FLR) practices can support national biodiversity goals.

The STAR metric

At the heart of these new reports is the STAR metric, a powerful tool developed to measure the potential and realised contribution of conservation and restoration initiatives to reducing species’ extinction risk. The STAR metric provides a standardised way for a myriad of actors, including governments, policymakers, practitioners, businesses, and investors, to measure the impact of their activities and investments on species preservation.

The STAR metric evaluates two key components: (1) threat abatement – reducing immediate threats to species, such as habitat loss, poaching, or pollution and (2) habitat restoration – restoring ecosystems that support threatened species, creating healthier environments for recovery and long-term survival.

The methodology seeks to estimate the potential contribution of threat abatement and/or habitat restoration activities to the reduction of species extinction risk, calibrate this potential contribution at a location using local data, set target scores quantifying the desired threat abatement and/or habitat restoration to be achieved, and measure progress towards these targets using suitable indicators of threat abatement and/or habitat restoration success.… Read the rest

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Uplifting Indigenous Communities Through The Restoration Initiative

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The Restoration Initiative (TRI) has been pivotal in uniting people and the planet in their important environmental restoration projects. Not only focusing on mitigating land degradation, TRI has been uplifting Indigenous communities that call this land home. With extraordinary connections to the land, Indigenous peoples possess traditional ecological knowledge and practices that are critical in the fight for environmental restoration. Through their various projects, the TRI are finding a balance between actively restoring land areas while protecting local communities’ rights and livelihoods that have lasted generations. 

Empowering Indigenous Communities in the Central African Republic

In the Pissa and Berberati regions of the Central African Republic, TRI projects are aiding the transition away from unsustainable farming practices in order to relieve the depletion of forest resources. The survival of local villages and indigenous groups has been based on scarce resources such as timber and wild meat, but with the help of TRI, new forms of income are being established. 

Pictures from CAR nursery in Bayanga area managed by partner WWF © FAO/Benjamin DeRidder

With the trust of the local people, long-term solutions are being established in the form of community forests. These forests aim to give Indigenous people long-term rights to use and manage their resources, empowering sustainable practices and collaboration. Through extensive engagement with local villagers, 500 hectares of land has been mapped out for this restoration project, with the potential to improve food security, increase animal habitat, provide alternative income sources, and improve the lives of surrounding communities. Training has been provided to empower indigenous peoples, teaching the importance of land management, legal rights, and allocation of community forests. … Read the rest

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