The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) has long been committed to international forest protection and conservation endeavors and is among the largest donors in this field. It focuses in particular on strategies for combining forest conservation with sustainable use.
BMZ is currently providing over 1.5 billion euros per year for more than 200 forest initiatives in more than 30 countries and ten regions. Support currently focuses on sustainable forest use that promotes climate change mitigation (REDD+), forest landscape restoration (AFR100) and deforestation-free supply chains.
AFR100 is an element in important international agreements on the restoration of forest landscapes. In 2011, the international community pledged in the Bonn Challenge to restore 150 million hectares of degraded forest by 2020. In the New York Declaration on Forests of 2014 this figure was increased: the current aim is to restore 350 million hectares of forest – an area almost the size of India – by 2030. It was also agreed in New York that global deforestation should be halved by 2020 and completely halted by 2030. The German government explicitly supports both agreements.