Restoring degraded land around the world would cost a fraction of a percent of global GDP to fund, a new study shows, but the inequitable distribution of restoration needs means poorer countries bear a disproportionately higher share of that cost. With an estimated 40% of land degraded globally, 115 nations have pledged to restore nearly 1 billion hectares (2.5 billion acres) of degraded land — an area roughly the size of Canada. These commitments through international environmental agreements, such as the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Bonn Challenge, include both restoring natural ecosystems and improving the management of agricultural lands. According to the first comprehensive analysis of the costs of these global restoration commitments, restoring these degraded lands globally could cost between $311 billion and $2.1 trillion. While substantial, that’s just 0.04-0.27% of annual global GDP if spread over 10 years. According to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, every dollar spent on restoring degraded lands brings between $7 and $30 in economic returns. The research team analyzed data from 243 restoration projects worldwide, revealing large variations in costs — from $185 per hectare ($75 per acre) for forest management, to more than $3,000 per hectare ($1,200 per acre) for silvopasture systems that combine trees and grazing animals. “We wanted to have an overview of all the cost estimates of different restoration types that are available, and then see if we could find factors that explain the variation in costs between restoration types and between countries,” study lead author Dewy…This article was originally published on Mongabay