Brazil positioned itself as a global leader in sustainable farming recently by announcing a comprehensive international plan to improve food security and restore degraded agricultural lands.

The Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock introduced the Resilient Agriculture Investment for Net Zero Land Degradation, or RAIZ. Together with the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, the Ministries of Fisheries and Agrarian Development are supporting the initiative. In order to reverse land degradation and increase production, RAIZ seeks to mobilise partnerships, capital, and technologies. A growing worldwide catastrophe prompts the programme’s response.

The livelihoods of 3.2 billion people are directly impacted by the degraded land, which is estimated by the UN to be close to 2 billion hectares.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, human activity is responsible for the degradation of about 25% of the world’s land. Agriculture, forestry, and land use contribute to around 23 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions.

“Restoration offers a win-win solution for people, climate, and nature, despite the alarming state of land degradation,” the FAO stated in a statement. Through its Green Way Program, Brazil, the host of COP30, intends to rebuild 40 million hectares of degraded land. Additionally, it established the Eco-Invest blended fund to draw in international and private funding. The fund provides funding for restoration initiatives that complement global biodiversity and climate objectives.

Through international collaboration, RAIZ expands on these national achievements. It draws together existing projects under the UN climate, biodiversity and desertification agreements to provide concrete results on land recovery.

In addition to encouraging creativity and local knowledge systems, the curriculum will highlight tried-and-true strategies, including regenerative agriculture, forestry, and community-led soil restoration. Under the Activation Group on Land Restoration and Sustainable Agriculture of the COP30 Action Agenda, MAPA and FAO will coordinate RAIZ. Countries, investors, and civil society will use the group as a forum to find projects that are worth funding and to scale up financing options.

Additionally, the project supports the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, which both aim to restore at least 30% of damaged ecosystems by 2030.

Restoring 250 million hectares of farmland by the middle of the century may reduce emissions by up to 20 gigatonnes and boost food production by up to 15 billion tonnes, according to FAO data.