SDG 15. Life on land

Presentation - State of affairs

SDG 15 aims to ensure protection, restoration and sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems and to halt land degradation and desertification. It acknowledges the economic and social benefits of biodiversity. Reforestation, which is essential to combating climate change, is also a priority. Combatting trafficking in protected species, often a source of revenue for criminal networks, is also a target.

United Nations Targets for 2030

Ministry Projects

Key figures

• €10 million was allotted to Cameroon by the AFD for the protection of biodiversity and the fight against poaching

• The Spatial Observation of Tropical Forest (OSFT) project was funded (€8.5 million) between 2011 and 2015 to provide Central African countries with satellite images enabling them to monitor forest coverage in the framework of the REDD+ mechanism to combat deforestation. This project provided total coverage with high-resolution satellite images of the whole dense forest region of the Congo Basin countries. Overall, the images were distributed free of charge and used by almost 60 sustainable forest management projects.

• The project to support the sustainable management of forests in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (AGEDUFOR) aims to strengthen momentum for sustainable management of production forests across all the country’s forest provinces (Bandundu, Equateur, Orientale). The two phases (2011, €5 million and 2015, €6 million) have three goals: (I) building the capacity of central and provincial administrations to monitor and evaluate forest management; (ii) supporting legal forest operators in the implementation of forest management; (iii) creating a regulatory framework and the methods and instruments needed for management plans.

• Support is provided for forest policies in the following countries: Cameroon, Congo and Gabon, in line with our constant support for the EU Timber Regulation and the Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade (FLEGT) process.

• Leading the National Working Group on Tropical Forests (GNFT) since 2002.

Examples of projects

• AFD – Preserving the Forests of the Guiana Shield, 2014-2018 (in French)
• AFD – Preserving and developing the biodiversity of the Tianma Nature Reserve in China, 2015

Ministry publications

• French policy on biodiversity
• Decentralised cooperation and biodiversity (2015)
• The fight against the illegal trade in wildlife (22 September 2016) (in French)
• Innovative initiatives for biodiversity financing - Expert Report (June 2014)

Useful links

• SDG 15 on the UN website
• SDG 15 on the website UN Women
• UN Forum on Forests

^{Updated: May 2017}