Over the past decade, African governments have made ambitious commitments to restore degraded land through initiatives like the African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative (AFR100). Under this partnership, 34 countries have pledged to restore over 129 million hectares by 2030. The focus has now shifted to turning these commitments into tangible actions by developing and implementing effective policies. However, challenges such as weak enforcement, poor coordination, unclear land tenure, and funding gaps hinder progress. The Landscape Policy Accelerator is partnering with governments to address these issues and support tailored policy development for successful landscape restoration.

The Landscape Policy Accelerator is strongly aligned with Restore Local, a WRI project that aims to regreen Africa’s vital landscapes by investing in locally-led restoration at scale. It focuses on three key landscapes: Kenya’s Greater Rift Valley; the Lake Kivu and Rusizi River Basin in Burundi, Rwanda, and the DRC; and the Ghana Cocoa Belt. The Accelerator is also active in Ethiopia and Malawi and plans to scale to other AFR100 countries in the coming years. 

Participants of the 2023 Rwanda workshop pose for a group photo.
Participants of the 2023 Rwanda workshop pose for a group photo. In collaboration with the Rwanda Forestry Authority, the Accelerator brought together NGO, government, and private sector stakeholders to map out policy priorities for the country. Photo by Duncan Okowa/WRI

Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)

The Landscape Policy Accelerator is analyzing domestic Forest and Landscape Restoration (FLR) policies and public economic incentives to make them more effective. Initial findings revealed significant challenges including the absence of a national or local restoration strategy, inadequate implementation of existing FLR laws, and a lack of cross-sectoral FLR coordination at all administrative levels. To address these gaps, the Accelerator is designing an in-country program for the DRC, bringing government leaders and policy experts together to create a more robust policy framework.

Ethiopia

The Accelerator partnered with the Ethiopian government to identify critical barriers to restoration efforts across the country. These include inconsistent policies, weak enforcement, and a focus on "protection forestry" over "production forestry.” The Accelerator is now exploring ways to tackle these challenges, like reforming policy systems so that they can become more effective.

Kenya

Focusing on the subnational level, the Landscape Policy Accelerator collaborated with four counties from the Greater Rift Valley landscape: Baringo, Elgeyo Marakwet, Makueni, and Nakuru. This partnership led to the creation of the Forest and Landscape Restoration Bill for Makueni County, which is awaiting approval from the County Executive Committee. Meanwhile, the Accelerator is providing customized support to the remaining three counties so that they can develop their own forest conservation and management policies.

Rwanda

After initial discussions with Accelerator experts, the Ministry of Environment and the Rwanda Forest Authority identified a major barrier to restoration nationwide: the lack of reproductive materials like seedlings and cuttings. Now, they are partnering with the Accelerator to solve this issue by redesigning the national Tree Reproductive Materials Strategy.

Malawi

The Accelerator has gathered members of the Ministries of Natural Resources and Climate Change, Finance, and Agriculture to identify common policy bottlenecks. Together, they agreed that some of the biggest barriers are a lack of public funding and limited private investment. The program is now planning another follow-up session to craft solutions to encourage more finance for restoration.