GLOBAL CAPACITY NEEDS ASSESSMENT: KEY GAPS AND CAPACITY PRIORITIES FOR RESTORATION TO SUPPORT THE UNITED NATIONS DECADE ON ECOSYSTEM RESTORATION 2021–2030

Large-scale restoration of degraded natural, semi-natural, production, cultural and urban ecosystems is needed to meet the objectives of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. To support and scale up efforts to address the urgent need to restore degraded ecosystems worldwide, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly proclaimed 2021–2030 as the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations Environment Programme serving as the lead agencies. To support its implementation, an FAO-led Task Force on Best Practices was established to enhance knowledge dissemination and system-wide capacity development efforts. This task force is a growing coalition of several dozens of global leading organizations bringing together more than 100 experts from all ecosystems around the world.

The task force conducted a global capacity needs assessment through the wide dissemination of an online survey to identify the “system-wide capacities” for enabling and empowering people, strengthening organizations, networks and partnerships, and fostering the enabling environment in order to achieve
the goals of the Decade and sustain its efforts beyond 2030. The results of this assessment, which collected and analysed 1 331 responses, will help define, accelerate and upscale key knowledge products and capacity development initiatives of the Decade. Furthermore, at the regional level, collective discussions will be promoted to internalize and translate findings into action plans.

OBJECTIVES OF THE ASSESSMENT
The capacity needs assessment was undertaken to:
provide a baseline of existing capacities across people, organizations, networks, partnerships and the enabling environment;
help identify strengths, gaps, needs and barriers to achieving and sustaining global restoration goals at scale; and guide the Decade’s system-wide capacity development efforts by mainstreaming restoration capabilities into regional and national knowledge and learning action plans