The Asian Development Bank has launched a regional initiative targeting at least $2 billion of investment by 2035 to finance land restoration and drought resilience programmes across Asia and the Pacific.
The Financing Investments and Eradicating Land Degradation and Desertification (FIELD) Initiative will bring together development organisations, governments and financial partners to help countries develop, finance and implement projects addressing land degradation.
ADB announced the initiative during a ministerial dialogue at the 17th Session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD COP17) in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
FIELD is targeting around one million hectares of land to be brought under sustainable management by 2035, with investments expected to support land and forest restoration, river basin management and water management.
An initial pipeline of potential projects has already been identified.
“Land degradation and desertification is a critical threat to ecosystems that sustain millions of rural communities and underpin economic growth in our region, a challenge that no one country can tackle alone,” said Scott Morris, ADB Vice-President for East and Southeast Asia, and the Pacific.
“By working with partners and scaling innovative investments in healthy and productive landscapes, ADB will lead efforts to conserve biodiversity, improve livelihoods, and ensure food and water security for all.”
New financing models to support delivery
A significant part of the initiative will focus on developing financing structures capable of attracting private investment into restoration projects.
ADB said FIELD will use approaches including blended finance, structures designed to reduce investment risk and capital market instruments to help mobilise private capital alongside public and development finance.
The initiative will also provide grants and technical assistance to ADB developing member countries. This will include support for policy development, capacity building and the creation of a knowledge platform.
The programme responds to growing concerns about drought, soil erosion and unsustainable land use across the region. According to ADB, dryland ecosystems support more than 40% of Asia-Pacific’s population but are increasingly threatened by degradation, with consequences for agricultural production, biodiversity and economic resilience.
Rangelands are a particular area of concern. They cover 54% of the world’s land surface and store up to 30% of global soil carbon, while financing for their sustainable management and restoration remains limited.
FIELD sits within wider nature investment platform
FIELD will operate as a dedicated land restoration and drought resilience window within ADB’s Nature Solutions Finance Hub, which has been established to increase nature-positive investment across Asia and the Pacific.
The initiative also forms part of ADB’s wider Environment Action Plan and its commitment to provide $40 billion by 2030 to support the transformation of food systems across the region.
It also contributes to the Riyadh Action Agenda established under Saudi Arabia’s UNCCD COP16 Presidency and has been launched during the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists.
Yasmine Fouad, UNCCD Executive Secretary, said: “The Global Rangelands Flagship Initiative is about moving from recognition to implementation at scale.
“ADB’s leadership through FIELD helps build the investment pathway we need, connecting restoration priorities with finance, projects and delivery on the ground. This is how we turn ambition into investable action for landscapes that are vital to livelihoods, food systems, and resilient economies.”
International partners join initiative
Several international organisations and financing institutions have expressed initial interest in collaborating through FIELD, including UNCCD, the Qatar Fund for Development and the Middle East Green Initiative.
Existing partners in ADB’s Nature Solutions Finance Hub are also involved in the wider collaboration. These include the International Union for Conservation of Nature, European Union, OPEC Fund for International Development, Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit.
Through the combination of project preparation, technical assistance and new financing structures, FIELD is intended to create a pipeline of investable land restoration projects capable of attracting funding at significantly greater scale.
ADB said the programme will ultimately seek to strengthen food and water security, conserve biodiversity and improve the resilience of communities affected by worsening drought and land degradation across Asia and the Pacific.
