Every year, nearly 3 million hectares of forests are lost in Africa. 65% of land in Africa is affected by degradation, and 3% of GDP is lost annually from soil and nutrient depletion on cropland. Rural smallholder farmers suffer the most, as they are largely dependent on the stable weather patterns, healthy soils and tree cover and water that degraded land threatens. 

The African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative (AFR100) is a country-led effort to bring 100 million hectares of these deforested and degraded landscapes across Africa into restoration by 2030.

With the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) as its secretariat, the initiative connects political partners — participating African nations — with technical and financial support to scale up restoration on the ground and capture associated benefits for food security, climate change resilience and poverty alleviation.

A dynamic network of political, technical and financial partners facilitate action towards the 100 million ha restoration target. To date, 33 African nations have signed onto AFR100 and committed a combined 129 million hectares of land to be restored. Financial and technical partners support partner countries to assess restoration opportunities, develop strategies and accelerate implementation on the ground.

World Resources Institute’s Global Restoration Initiative is a managing partner of AFR100. Within Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Niger and Rwanda, WRI supports governments, businesses and communities by helping them identify restoration opportunities, track their progress, and  develop action plans to accelerate implementation. WRI’s Land Accelerator and TerraMatch platforms work across Africa to boost private and public investment in restoration.

AFR100 responds to the African Union mandate to bring 100 million hectares of degraded land into restoration by 2030. The initiative contributes to the achievement of domestic environment and development commitments, the Bonn Challenge and Land Degradation Neutrality target-setting process, among other targets. AFR100 contributes to the African Resilient Landscapes Initiative (ARLI) and complements the African Landscapes Action Plan (ALAP) and the broader Climate Change, Biodiversity and Land Degradation (LDBA) program of the African Union. AFR100 accelerates progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement.