World’s Forests 2026: The Restoration Challenge

The report’s theme is “Restoring Forests and Landscapes—The Way Forward for a Sustainable Future.” It highlights the growing problem of land degradation and explains how restoring damaged forests and landscapes can support climate action, biodiversity conservation, food security, and sustainable livelihoods.

The report also highlights India’s contribution to global restoration efforts, placing it among the leading countries in terms of the area under restoration.

Land degradation is becoming a major environmental challenge due to population growth, changing land-use patterns, and increasing demand for natural resources.

According to the report:

• More than 460 million hectares of forests and 1.56 billion hectares of land are degraded worldwide.
• Growing demand for forest products, agricultural land, and other resources is putting additional pressure on ecosystems.
• The gap between what nature can sustainably provide and what people consume is increasing.

Forest and landscape restoration is therefore essential to recover damaged ecosystems and maintain the balance between human needs and environmental protection.

The report highlights significant areas of degraded land across different regions of the world.

Asia has the largest area of degraded land among these three regions, underlining the need for stronger restoration measures.

Countries are increasingly adopting restoration policies and reporting progress. However, current efforts are not sufficient to achieve global restoration targets.

The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), Target 2, calls for at least 30% of degraded terrestrial, inland water, coastal, and marine ecosystems to be under effective restoration by 2030.

According to the report’s estimates:

• An additional 65.6 million hectares per year will need to be restored from 2027.
• This would require restoring an additional 262.5 million hectares by 2030.

Meeting this target will require faster implementation, adequate funding, and coordinated action by governments, businesses, and local communities.

Key findings include:

• India ranks second globally, with 18.9 million hectares under restoration, according to the report.
• China leads with 127.4 million hectares under restoration.
• Sudan, Mongolia, and Indonesia are also among the leading countries highlighted in the report.

India’s position reflects the importance of restoration initiatives in addressing land degradation, strengthening ecosystem resilience, and supporting sustainable development.

The report identifies four major pathways to scale up forest and landscape restoration.

1. Empowering people and strengthening rights

2. Implementing restoration at the landscape level

3. Mobilizing finance and developing business models

4. Creating effective policies and legal frameworks

Forest and landscape restoration offers benefits beyond increasing tree cover. It can support several environmental and socioeconomic objectives.

• Climate action: Restored forests absorb carbon dioxide and can help reduce the impacts of climate change.
• Biodiversity conservation: Healthy ecosystems provide habitats for wildlife and support ecological balance.
• Food security: Improved land and soil conditions can strengthen agricultural productivity and local food systems.
• Livelihood generation: Restoration can create employment and improve the incomes of rural communities.
• Climate resilience: Healthy landscapes can improve ecosystem resilience to droughts, floods, and other environmental stresses.

The report notes that, under favorable conditions, restoration can generate returns of up to US$30 for every US$1 invested. However, actual returns depend on the location, type of intervention, and time required to realize the benefits.

The report also stresses that the cost of inaction can exceed the cost of restoration, particularly when environmental damage leads to social, economic, and cultural losses.

Successful restoration depends not only on government policies and funding but also on the participation of people who live in and depend on forests.

The report emphasizes that:

• Local communities contribute practical knowledge about ecosystems and sustainable resource management.
• Indigenous Peoples play an important role in biodiversity conservation and the protection of cultural values.
• Restoration programmes should respect community rights and ensure that benefits are shared fairly.
• The principle of Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) is important when measures affect Indigenous Peoples and their rights.

Community participation helps make restoration more inclusive, effective, and sustainable over the long term.

Although many countries report progress in forest restoration, comparing results remains difficult.

The report identifies several challenges:

• Different countries and international frameworks use different definitions and measurement methods.
• Reporting systems are fragmented, making global comparisons difficult.
• Existing data often focus on the area restored rather than the actual ecological and social outcomes.

Therefore, measuring success requires more than counting the number of hectares restored. Monitoring should also assess biodiversity recovery, ecosystem health, carbon storage, and improvements in local livelihoods.

1. Eradicate hunger and malnutrition: Improve access to safe, nutritious food and strengthen food security.

2. Reduce poverty: Promote economic and social development, particularly in rural areas.

3. Ensure sustainable natural resource management: Support the responsible use of land, water, air, climate, and genetic resources for present and future generations.

According to the Global Forest Resources Assessment 2025:

• The world has approximately 4.14 billion hectares of forest.
• Forests cover around 32% of the world's total land area.
• This is equivalent to approximately 0.50 hectares of forest per person.
• Global deforestation has slowed but remains a major concern, at an estimated 10.9 million hectares annually during 2015–2025.

Slower deforestation is an encouraging development, but the continuing loss of forests highlights the need for stronger conservation and restoration efforts.

Russia, Brazil, Canada, the United States, China These countries account for a substantial share of the world's forest resources, making their forest management policies important for global climate and biodiversity goals.

India has improved its position in terms of total forest area. Key findings from the assessment include: • India ranks ninth globally in total forest area, improving from tenth place in the 2015 assessment. • India retains the third position in annual forest area gain, as reported in the supplied material. • India has approximately 72.74 million hectares of forest area, accounting for around 2% of the world's total forest area. However, increases in forest area do not automatically indicate improvements in natural forest quality. Plantation forests and naturally regenerated forests can differ significantly in biodiversity, ecological value, and resilience. Therefore, forest conservation efforts should focus not only on increasing tree cover but also on protecting natural forests and improving ecosystem health.

The assessment identifies seven countries or territories reporting no forest area:

• Falkland Islands (Malvinas), Gibraltar, Holy See, Monaco, Nauru, Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands, Tokelau

These examples highlight the geographical differences in forest distribution around the world.