NEW DELHI: The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report recognized India's Ganges River dolphin (Platanista gangetica) species recovery program. It highlights that this recovery effort has led to ecosystem restoration and the creation of jobs.
In its report titled "Nature’s Comeback – Scaling Ecosystem Restoration for People and Planet," UNEP included the dolphin recovery program as one of 35 UN World Restoration Flagships, showcasing large-scale restoration efforts.
India has also launched its Comprehensive Action Plan for 2022–2047, developed to guide long-term dolphin conservation. This broader national initiative supports the recovery of river dolphins, including the Ganges river dolphin.
In addition to dolphins, the report mentions other species recoveries, including the return of mountain gorillas in East Africa, jaguars and golden-headed lion tamarins in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, snow leopards in Kyrgyzstan, and Saiga antelope and wild horses in Kazakhstan’s Altyn Dala.
The report is published midway through the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021–2030). It provides the first-ever comprehensive global assessment of progress against commitments to restore around one billion hectares and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework target to ensure that by 2030, at least 30 per cent of degraded terrestrial, freshwater, marine, and coastal ecosystems are under effective restoration.
The flagship report, co-published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), and the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), finds that 252 million hectares (ha) across 149 countries are being restored, creating more than one million green jobs – the largest documented global restoration effort to date.
Research indicates that restoring just 15 per cent of global priority areas could capture and store 30 per cent of carbon dioxide (CO₂) equivalent emissions since the industrial revolution and help avoid 60 per cent of species extinctions.
Restoration progress is variable across ecosystems and countries, according to the report. Restoration of terrestrial ecosystems has reached nearly half the global target to have 30 percent of degraded terrestrial ecosystems under restoration by 2030. China reports the largest terrestrial area under restoration (127.4 million ha), while substantial areas are also documented in Mongolia and Kazakhstan.
Progress is far more limited in freshwater, marine and coastal ecosystems, which are also degrading at the fastest rates. Only 11 million ha of freshwater ecosystems and 5.7 million ha of marine and coastal ecosystems across 62 and 46 countries, respectively, are documented as being under restoration.
"Today, we are witnessing the makings of one of the largest movements for nature in recorded history," said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP.
"Yet, at the halfway point of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, we are still not restoring nature at the scale or speed required. By 2030, we must turn inspiring initiatives into systemwide action – shifting to restoration economies that protect what remains and restore what has been degraded."
Ecosystem restoration is essential for food and water security, climate resilience, jobs, and well-being. Across all ecosystems, Asia accounts for 192.2 million ha of the total documented area under restoration, followed by Africa with 36.3 million ha, Europe with 9.1 million ha, North and Central America with 5.8 million ha, South America with 5.4 million ha and Oceania with 3.2 million ha.
These differences do not rank restoration performance – they reflect the scale of restoration activity, regional land area, and capacities in monitoring and reporting.
