UN Recognises Marine Restoration Efforts in East Africa, Mexico, and Spain

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) have launched the first World Restoration Flagships of 2025. The initiatives will restore nearly five million hectares of marine ecosystems across three regions: the Northern Mozambique Channel off East Africa, Mexico's seabird islands, and Spain's Mar Menor lagoon.

These initiatives were initiated at the 3rd UN Ocean Conference in Nice, France, co-organized by Costa Rica and France. The World Restoration Flagship awards are an initiative of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, a global process to avoid, halt, and reverse ecosystem loss by 2030.

The chosen flagships are filtered through a rigorous scrutiny process on 15 criteria and based on the 10 UN Decade principles. They are models of inspiration for how large-area, long-term restoration can enhance biodiversity, climate resilience, and livelihoods.

The Northern Mozambique Channel, the first to be delineated, is the most ecologically diverse marine area in the Indian Ocean, with 35% of the ocean's coral reefs. It accounts for coastal and marine ecosystems in Tanzania, Mozambique, Madagascar, and Comoros. Warmer sea temperatures, agricultural runoff, and overfishing have led to the degradation of the region's ecosystems.

To reverse this, a tripartite programme with governments, WWF, and UN agencies is re-planting mangroves, coral reefs, and green corridors. The programme is on 87,200 hectares of land and sea but is projected to extend to 4.85 million hectares by 2030. The restoration programmes are projected to enhance local livelihoods, household incomes by 30%, and provide more than 2,000 jobs. The Madagascar mangroves itself sequesters more than 300 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, reflecting the importance of such an ecosystem when dealing with global warming.

Over 60 Mexican islands have been certified for efforts to reclaim substantial seabird habitat. These islands are home to approximately one-third of all the world's seabirds but are impacted by invasive species, habitat loss, and human occupation.

Throughout the last 26 years, there has been an overall rehabilitation program with Mexico's National Commission for Natural Protected Areas (CONANP) and Grupo de Ecología y Conservación de Islas (GECI) that has focused on the management of 60 invasive species populations. Restoration also involves forestry rehabilitation as well as implementation of island-specific biosecurity protocols.

As a result, 85% of the originally lost seabird colonies have been regained. By 2030, the project will have recovered over 100,000 hectares, equivalent to continental biodiversity in almost one million hectares. The islands support over 300 endemic species, and the restoration helps in promoting ecotourism, sustainable fisheries, and climate resilience.

The third flagship that is identified is Spain's Mar Menor lagoon. Europe's largest saltwater lagoon is home to small fisheries, local farming, and distinctive biodiversity. Nitrate discharges and the growth of algal blooms have resulted due to intensive agriculture and pollution, and catastrophic outcomes for the health of the lagoon.

As a response, the Spanish Government supported the Framework of Priority Actions to Recover the Mar Menor (MAPMM). This document comprises 10 lines of action and 28 measures to tackle the fundamental reasons for environmental degradation. They include wetland promotion, sustainable agriculture promotion, green defence belt construction, flood risk management, and pollution treatment of damaged zones.

The restoration area covered in the target area is 8,770 hectares, or 7% of the basin area that ends up draining into the Mar Menor. The green belt alone will sequester over 82,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide by 2040. The plan also fits Spain's broader climate ambition of restoring 870,000 hectares by the end of the decade.

All three restoration projects point to the significance of responding to land pollution and combining ecosystem recovery with local community development. They also point to the responsibility of collaborative action among local communities, NGOs, and governments in achieving successful restoration.

The World Restoration Flagships initiative is embedded in global agendas to restore one billion degraded ecosystems by 2030. The pledge is aligned with international aspirations of the Paris Agreement, Kunming-Montanol Global Biodiversity Framework, Bonn Challenge, and other green policies.

UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021–2030) seeks to create a momentum and the transparency of monitoring restoration success. All the selected flagships shall be tracked through the UN's Framework for Ecosystem Restoration Monitoring platform.

By it, the UN hopes to restore degraded landscapes, enhance biodiversity conservation, and strengthen climate resilience. The 2025 World Restoration Flagships are opportunities for master planning ahead of future action and offer lessons in successful sustainable environmental restoration at scale.

Source & Credits:
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
UN Ocean Conference 2025 – Nice, France