World Restoration Flagships
- Context (UNEP): The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN (FAO) have named seven initiatives as UN World Restoration Flagships.
- The seven initiatives are:
- Restoring Mediterranean Forests Initiative;
- Living Indus Initiative;
- Accion Andina social movement;
- Sri Lanka Mangrove Regeneration Initiative;
- Regreening Africa initiative;
- Forest Garden Program, launched in 2015, which includes multiple Forest Garden projects in Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Gambia, Kenya, Mali, Senegal, Uganda, and Tanzania;
- Terai Arc Landscape shared by India and Nepal.
- The UN World Restoration Flagships is led by UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
- These awards are part of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-30).
- Objective: To prevent, halt, and reverse the degradation of ecosystems on every continent and in every ocean.
- Funding: They receive technical and financial support from the UN.
- These initiatives include ecosystems that are at the tipping point of outright degradation due to wildfires, drought, deforestation, and pollution.
- Together, the seven new flagships are expected to restore nearly 40 million hectares and create around 500,000 jobs.
Terai Arc Landscape
- The Terai Arc Landscape (TAL) is an 810 km stretch between the river Yamuna in the west and the river Bhagmati in the east.
- It is spread across the Indian states of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, and the low lying hills of Nepal.
- It comprises the Shivalik hills, the adjoining bhabhar areas and the Terai flood plains.
- It aims to conserve ecosystems of the Terai and Churia hills while ensuring the safeguard the rights of indigenous people and local community.
- The landscape boasts of some of India’s most well-known Protected Areas such as Corbett Tiger Reserve, Rajaji National Park, Dudhwa Tiger Reserve, Valmiki Tiger Reserve.
- It is home to three flagship species, the Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris), the greater one horned rhino (Rhinoceros unicornis) and the Asian elephant (Elephas maximus).
