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:
  1. Restoring Mediterranean Forests Initiative;
  2. Living Indus Initiative;
  3. Accion Andina social movement;
  4. Sri Lanka Mangrove Regeneration Initiative;
  5. Regreening Africa initiative;
  6. 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;
  7. 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).