The Multi-Partner Trust Fund for the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030 is the financial engine behind the implementation of the strategy of the UN Decade. The primary aims of the Fund are to combat declining biodiversity, support livelihoods and green jobs, enhance natural resource bases, and help societies adapt to and mitigate climate change through restoration of terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems globally. In so doing, the Fund is an important mechanism for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the objectives of the Rio Conventions.

The Fund finances strategic interventions along the Flagship Initiatives of the UN Decade to spur an informed and coordinated #GenerationRestoration movement and turning the tide of ecosystem degradation.

The focus is on supporting agents for change, action on the ground, and scaling up existing successful efforts in developing countries. This can be done also through convening dialogues, providing information, facilitating learning, and undertaking a coordination process at global, regional and national/local levels. Women and Indigenous people are particularly important target groups.

Governance Arrangements 

Executive Board An Executive Board is responsible for the overall strategic guidance on the Fund. It is composed of representatives from UNEP and FAO as well as from donors and funding partners (contributing over USD 10 million) and the UN MPTF Office (ex-officio).

Ad hoc expertise is provided by the Advisory Board, existing platforms and networks of expertise on ecosystems restoration, and partners as well as from relevant governments, civil society, academia, private sector, or other entities.

Administration

Administered by the UN Multi-Partner Trust Fund Office, the Fund is supported by a core team at the United Nations Environment Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations providing secretariat services and overseeing the overall operations of the Fund.

Role of the Fund

The Fund supports the implementation of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration as a catalyst, convener and contributor of critical targeted interventions and to increase overall investments into ecosystem restoration at a planetary scale. It thereby acts as an engine and connector of the restoration efforts around the globe and helps develop a new restoration economy that provides an economic boost globally through the provision of jobs and increased supplies of goods and services in a sustainable manner from healthy ecosystems.

Benefits for funding partner

The scale of investment in ecosystem restoration required for a substantial global impact exceeds one trillion US dollars of public sector as well as private sector funds over the course of the UN Decade. Given the costs of ecosystem degradation and the scale of the benefits from ecosystem restoration, investing one trillion US dollars in ecosystem restoration over the period of a decade is arguably prudent and realistic. The sum represents roughly 0.1% of expected global GDP over the course of the UN Decade.

This does not only include direct investments into restoration of terrestrial and marine systems but also shifts in current financial flows, subsidies and taxes towards sustainable production, trade and consumption of commercial goods and services.

The Fund does not only provide support through strategic interventions but collaborates and coordinates with other existing Funds and Facilities, with the aim to strengthen a coordinated approach to restoration investments globally. The Fund also aims to channel more private and public investments into ecosystem restoration, by increasing investor confidence, technical capacity, and investment opportunities in restoration.

The Multi-Partner Trust Fund provides the numerous benefits to development partners including:

• Robust needs analyses ensuring effective prioritization of activities
• Rapid, strategic resource allocation • Minimal transaction and overhead costs
• Enhanced visibility for donors at the global level
• A joint funding mechanism for donor.
• Convening and coordinating key programmes and stakeholders for a joint global movement
• Greater effective use of funds and increased probability of impact
• Full transparency for real-time financial information
• Consolidated, results-based reporting of the entire Fund’s operation
• Transparent and accountable pooling of resources and risk sharing

For more information, please see the Factsheet on the Multi-Partner Trust Fund