AFR100 responds to the African Union mandate to bring 100 million hectares of degraded land into restoration by 2030, as expressed in the political declaration endorsed by the Africa Union in October 2015 for the creation of the umbrella Africa Resilient Landscapes Initiative (ARLI). It complements the African Landscapes Action Plan (ALAP) and the broader Climate Change, Biodiversity and Land Degradation (LDBA) program of the African Union. AFR100 contributes to the achievement of domestic restoration and sustainable development commitments, the Bonn Challenge, and New York Declaration on Forests among many other targets. The initiative directly contributes to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris climate agreement. It builds on the experience and progress achieved through the TerrAfrica Partnership and related landscape restoration efforts.

The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD Agency), World Resources Institute (WRI), Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the World Bank have launched the initiative and are building a “platform for implementation” that provides technical support and facilitates financing for partner countries. In its initial project phase, AFR100 is in the process of building up and strengthening the partnership, and leveraging additional resources to scale up successful forest landscape restoration practices in targeted landscapes in participating African countries.