This session will discuss current practices and research results related to forest landscape restoration (FLR) implementation for the diverse environmental and social conditions in the Western, Central, and Northeast Asia, largely (but not limited to) in response to the Astana Resolution and Bonn Challenge. These efforts highlight the need and potential for urgent action in dryland restoration globally.

Climate variability and natural hazards characterize the region, projected to become more arid with more intense rainfall events. Over-grazing, fire, illegal logging, and exploitive harvesting of non-timber forest products have reduced forest cover and degraded the remaining forests.

The topics to be discussed during this session will revolve around food and livelihood issues in rural continental Asia and the need for forest landscape restoration as a broad and inclusive approach towards enhancing ecosystem functionality and services, including land productivity, critical for more sustainable land management. The sessions, led as a moderated dialogue, will revolve around the ways and means to implement FLR on the ground in six countries in continental Asia.

Following opening remarks and two short keynotes on the status of land degradation and challenges of FLR in the region, participants will be invited to join one of the six country tables to discuss their single most important FLR challenge, based on the in-country expert’s presentation. The relevant input collected will be presented to all the participants at the end of the session.