UN Environment is hosting a 2 hour discussion forum as part of the 24-hour Digital Edition, one of 5 live online sessions around the world, to take place on May 13, following on the GLF conference live from Kyoto. The session will be webstreamed live, with an expected audience of 10,000+.

The expert discussion forum in Nairobi will be connecting global experts, and leaders from Government, indigenous peoples, youth, civil society, and the private sector – both in person in Nairobi, and online. The theme will be the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030, which was declared in March 2019 by the UN General Assembly. The Decade aims to massively scale up the restoration of degraded and destroyed ecosystems. UN Environment and FAO will lead the implementation of the Decade with their partners.

The Decade, a global call to action, will draw together political support, scientific research and financial muscle to massively scale up restoration from successful pilot initiatives to areas of millions of hectares. Research shows that two billion hectares of the world’s deforested and degraded landscapes offer potential for restoration, with at least an equal area of marine and coastal ecosystems in need of restoration.

The side event aims to raise awareness and show evidence on the potential of the decade to coordinate an ambitious restoration program that builds resilience, reduces vulnerability and increases the ability of systems to adapt to the impacts of climate change and biodiversity loss, daily threats and extreme events.

The event will be framed around experiences. The emerging approaches highlighted will build on the experiences and expertise of the speakers. It will aim for increased awareness of the importance of restoring ecosystems in order to restore healthy and sustainable ecosystems for today and the future. Visual presentation tools will be used to enhance presentations, and active audience participation will be facilitated, including of the online audience.