Restoration Policy Dialogues 2023

The Government of India has demonstrated its strong commitment to restoration by pledging to restore 26 million hectares of degraded land through its Bonn Challenge and Land Degradation Neutrality targets. As part of its nationally determined contributions and the Net Zero by 2070 commitment, it has also pledged to increase its forest and tree cover by 2030, with a goal of sequestering 2.5–3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent. WRI India’s research findings indicate that India’s policy ecosystem supports various monetary and nonmonetary incentives that promote restoration, as evident from several large-scale restoration-related interventions being undertaken as part of various flagship policies implemented by the Ministry of Rural Development, such as the Watershed Development Component– Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana 2.0, National Rural Livelihoods Mission, and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. These programs can help unlock the restoration potential in Madhya Pradesh through an integrated landscape approach, with a focus on fostering public and private investment in implementing nature-based solutions that can help meet the triple challenge of recovering nature, meeting people’s needs, and staying within the global warming limit of 1.5°C. This can be achieved by enhancing rural livelihoods and job opportunities, building resilience, and mitigating climate risks through collaborations with diverse stakeholders.

However, implementation of these policies has proven to be consistently challenging. Thus, it is essential to convene policymakers and experts on a common platform to tackle these interconnected and multidimensional challenges and pursue effective solutions – such a platform provided by Restoration Dialogues that brings together different stakeholders for collaborative planning and action. This conference proceedings provide insights from the Restoration Dialogues 2023 that were convened by the Department of Panchayat and Rural Development, Government of Madhya Pradesh in collaboration with WRI India and Transform Rural India in August 2023 at Bhopal. The dialogues focused on ‘Restoring landscapes in Madhya Pradesh for climate and communities’ by inspiring, innovating, and designing solutions for converging existing policies and scaling landscape restoration in the state.