A non-governmental organization run by 2004 Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai’s daughter, has won Sh13.5 billion (US$100 million) to accelerate locally led land restoration in three African landscapes: the Lake Kivu & Rusizi River Basin area, the Cocoa Belt of Ghana and Greater Rift Valley of Kenya.
The investment is aligned with anchor funding from the Bezos Earth Fund of $50 million and the ambitious goals of the African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative (AFR100), a partnership of 33 African governments with the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) as its secretariat.
This $150 million achieves 30 percent of the fundraising target of $500 million for philanthropy.
World Resources Institute (WRI)’s Restore Local Managing Director Wanjira Maathai stated that the project will make direct investments in local community-based organizations and small and medium enterprises to accelerate restoration activities on the ground, deepen their knowledge and skills, propose and implement supportive policies, and monitor their impact.
It will contribute to AFR100’s continent-wide mission to restore 100 million hectares of degraded and deforested land by 2030, as well as various government commitments in each country.
“I am honored that Restore Local was selected for catalytic funding through The Audacious Project, which is a clear signal of confidence in locally-led action,” said Wanjira.
The WRI’s Managing Director, of Africa, and Global Partnerships added that “restoration is one of the most powerful investments we can make on the planet because restoring degraded land can simultaneously mitigate climate change and cushion communities against the worst impacts. It can also replenish soil productivity, create jobs and improve family incomes.”
Restore Local is a WRI-led project under the African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative (AFR100), a continent-wide partnership to restore 100 million hectares of land by 2030.
While WRI serves as the custodian of the funding allocated by The Audacious Project donors, the majority of this financing will flow directly to local entrepreneurs and community-based organizations that restore land – the “restoration champions” – along with the capacity-building programs that support them.
Restore Local will use this funding to drive change on the ground by collecting the information of restoration champions through open requests for proposals.