The UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and the Government of the Republic of Korea Forest Service (KFS) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish the Peace Forest Initiative (PFI). The Initiative will support land and forest rehabilitation in post conflict areas to reduce peace and security challenges stemming from natural resource degradation.

Ibrahim Thiaw, Executive Secretary of the UNCCD, and Chong-Ho Park, Minister of KFS, Republic of Korea, signed the MoU on 28 January 2020.  The goal of the PFI is to “offer countries recovering from violent conflict an opportunity to achieve stability and trust while re-building livelihoods and economies.” Speaking on the Initiative, Thiaw said it “will help address some of the most challenging situations of transboundary management of shared natural resources while promoting peace and cooperation.” Chong-Ho Park said that “the PFI is an effective tool to promote cooperation on the restoration of degraded land and forest in conflict-affected areas.”

The PFI will support land degradation neutrality through partnerships that build peace and security.

The PFI was initially launched on 10 September 2019 during the 14th Conference of the Parties to the UNCCD in New Delhi, India. In supporting needs assessments, the Initiative will engender collaboration, provide guidance, support transparency and support local parties to conflict to resolve their disputes and grievances. The PFI also aims to contribute to land degradation neutrality (LDN) implementation through partnerships that build peace and security.

The PFI launch precedes the commencement of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030. [UNCCD Press Release] [ENB coverage of UNCCD COP 14]