21 March 2015: On the occasion of the International Day of Forests, the Second International Conference on the Bonn Challenge resulted in a number of forest restoration commitments by national governments, bringing the total area to be restored to more than 59 million hectares.

Commitments include a pledge by El Salvador to launch a Central American partnership for restoration, while in Southeast Asia, a regional programme to increase cooperation between governments and the private sector was announced. Additionally, Ethiopia and Liberia announced further contributions to the Great Green Wall initiative to restore forests along the border of the Sahara Desert.

The Bonn Challenge conference was co-organised by the German Federal Environment Ministry, the Norwegian Ministry of Climate and Environment, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the World Resources Institute (WRI).

The Bonn Challenge aims to restore 150 million hectares of degraded and deforested land by 2020. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), achieving the Bonn Challenge could result in an increase in crop yields of US$6 billion a year while the total economic contribution of restoration activities could top US$85 billion. The Bonn Challenge was endorsed by the New York Declaration on Forests, which calls for expanded restoration targets to restore a total of 350 million hectares by 2030. [IUCN Press Release] [Global Mechanism Press Release]