Innovative Financing for Land Restoration and Drought Resilience

Globally, land degradation and drought are accelerating, putting ecosystems, economies and communities at risk. The issue is not a lack of solutions—it is how we finance them. If we want resilient landscapes and communities, we need to shift investment toward prevention, restoration and long-term resilience. We have scalable solutions that are designed to do exactly that.

“Innovative Financing for Land Restoration and Drought Resilience: An Implementation Playbook,” co-authored by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, The Nature Conservancy and partners including Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), Global Water Partnership (GWP), International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Mongolian Nature’s Legacy Foundation (MNLF) and Enduring Earth, brings together financial solutions that are already working in practice. It is built for policymakers and practitioners who need to move from commitment to implementation—and scale what works.

These approaches show that investing in nature and people can be financially viable at scale—while improving biodiversity, strengthening water systems, advancing climate mitigation and adaptation, and supporting local communities through stronger livelihoods, expanded access to finance and technical support, and more inclusive governance.

The playbook draws on examples from across Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the United States. The models exist. The capital exists. The opportunity now is to bring them together—quickly and at scale. We are here to close the gap between ambition and delivery and make land restoration and drought resilience investable realities.