The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration aims to massively scale up the restoration of degraded and destroyed ecosystems as a proven measure to fight the climate crisis and enhance food security, water supply and biodiversity.

A statement issued and signed by Mr Bryce Seockhwan Hwang of the Food Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Liaison Office New York and coped to the Ghana News Agency said the degradation of land and marine ecosystems undermined the well-being of 3.2 billion people, which cost about 10 per cent of the annual global gross product in loss of species and ecosystems services.

It said key ecosystems that delivered numerous services, essential to food and agriculture, including supply of freshwater, protection against hazards and provision of habitat for species such as fish and pollinators, were declining rapidly.

"We are pleased that our vision for a dedicated Decade has become reality," said Madam Lina Pohl, Minister of Environment and Natural Resources of El Salvador, a regional restoration leader.

"We need to promote an aggressive restoration programme that builds resilience, reduces vulnerability and increases the ability of systems to adapt to daily threats and extreme events."

The statement said restoration of 350 million hectares of degraded land between now and 2030 could generate nine trillion dollars in ecosystem services and take an additional 13-26 gigatons of greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere.

Mr José Graziano da Silva, FAO Director-General said: "The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration will help countries race against the impacts of climate change and biodiversity loss".

"Ecosystems are being degraded at an unprecedented rate. Our global food systems and the livelihoods of many millions of people depend on all of us working together to restore healthy and sustainable ecosystems for today and the future."

Madam Joyce Msuya, Acting Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme said: "UN Environment and FAO are honoured to lead the implementation of the Decade with our partners".

"The degradation of our ecosystems has had a devastating impact on both people and the environment. We are excited that momentum for restoring our natural environment has been gaining pace because nature is our best bet to tackle climate change and secure the future."

The statement said the Decade, a global call to action, would draw together political support, scientific research and financial muscle to massively scale up restoration from successful pilot initiatives to areas of millions of hectares.

It said research has shown that more than two billion hectares of the world's deforested and degraded landscapes offered potential for restoration.

It noted that the Decade would accelerate existing global restoration goals, for example the Bonn Challenge, which aims to restore 350 million hectares of degraded ecosystems by 2030 - an area almost the size of India.

Currently, 57 countries, sub-national governments and private organisations had committed to bring over 170 million hectares under restoration.

It said this would build on regional efforts such as the Initiative 20x20 in Latin America that aims to restore 20 million hectares of degraded land by 2020, and the AFR100 African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative that also aims at bringing 100 million hectares of degraded land under restoration by 2030.

Ecosystem restoration is defined as a process of reversing the degradation of ecosystems, such as landscapes, lakes and oceans to regain their ecological functionality; in other words, to improve the productivity and capacity of ecosystems to meet the needs of society.

This could be done by allowing the natural regeneration of overexploited ecosystems, for example, or by planting trees and other plants.

Ecosystem restoration is fundamental to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), mainly those on climate change, poverty eradication, food security, water and biodiversity conservation.

It is also a pillar of international environmental conventions, such as the Ramsar Convention on wetlands and the Rio Conventions on biodiversity, desertification and climate change.

Currently, about 20 per cent of the planet's vegetated surface shows declining trends in productivity with fertility losses linked to erosion, depletion and pollution in all parts of the world.

By 2050, degradation and climate change could reduce crop yields by 10 per cent globally and by up to 50 per cent in certain regions.