Launch of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030

Friday 4 June 2021, 3:00 pm CET / 4:00 pm EAT / 9:00am EST

Facing the triple threat of climate change, loss of biodiversity and pollution, the world needs to step up efforts to revive damaged ecosystems that support all life on Earth.

The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration is a global effort aimed at restoring the planet and ensuring One Health for people and nature. It aims to prevent, halt and reverse the degradation of ecosystems on every continent and in every ocean. It can also help to end poverty and hunger, combat climate change and prevent loss of biodiversity, thus contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Restoring damaged ecosystems is particularly crucial in the context of the current COVID-19 pandemic and the Building Back Better approach.

Led by El Salvador and together with over 70 countries, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) proclaimed 2021–2030 as the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration on March 1, 2019. The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) are tasked to lead the implementation.

The Decade will be officially launched at a special virtual high-level event on Friday, 4 June. The event will bring together UN agencies, heads of State and Government, ministers, policy leaders, civil society, private sector, financial institutions, researchers, youth, artists and activists among others.

Date: Friday, 4 June 2021

Time: 3:00 pm CET / 4:00 pm EAT / 9:00am EST
Duration: 1 hour 45 minutes

Welcoming the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration

• António Guterres, UN Secretary-General
• Inger Andersen, Executive Director, UNEP
• QU Dongyu, Director-General, FAO

Generation Restoration Dialogues

• Restoration and the Climate Action we need:  Alex Rendell (UNEP Goodwill Ambassador Thailand, Actor and Environmental Educator) & Patricia Espinosa (Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change)
• Restoration for a food-secure future: Romario Valentine (young African artist) & Ibrahim Thiaw (Executive Secretary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification)
• 10 years to put biodiversity on a path to recovery:Niria Alicia Garcia (Young Champion of the Earth) & Elizabeth Mrema

Political Leadership Ambitions

• H.E. Imran Khan, Prime Minister, Pakistan
• Angela Merkel, Chancellor, Germany
• H.E. Felix-Antoine Tshisekedi, President, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Chairperson of the African Union
• H.E. Mia Mottley, Prime Minister, Barbados
• Krista Mikkonen, Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, Finland
• Lea Wermelin, Minister of the Environment, Denmark
• Flemming Moller Mortensen, Minister of Development Cooperation, Denmark
• Leonhard Birnbaum, CEO, E.On

Musical Performance

• Rocky Dawuni, UNEP Regional Goodwill Ambassador – Africa, Grammy-nominated singer and songwriter
• Don Diablo (DJ) feat. Ty Dolla $ign – World premiere of “Too much to ask” – A lovesong for Mother Earth and #GenerationRestoration

Streaming details:

• The event will be webcast here: https://www.worldenvironmentday.global/latest/official-broadcast
• It can also be followed on social media, for example on UNEP’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/UnepAndYou