NAIROBI, June 3 (Xinhua) -- Massive investments are required to restore degraded ecosystems and hasten the realization of a sustainable, peaceful, and secure future for humanity, The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) said in a joint report launched on Thursday.

The report titled" Ecosystem Restoration for People, Nature and Climate" says that sustaining the health and inclusive prosperity of communities hinges on implementing radical measures to protect forests, grasslands, peatlands, and oceans from harm. According to the report, every U.S. dollar invested in the restoration of vital ecosystems could unleash up to 30 dollars in economic benefits, besides improving food, water, and energy security alongside climate resilience for communities.

"This report presents the case for why we must all throw our weight behind a global restoration effort," Inger Andersen, UNEP executive director, and Qu Dongyu, FAO director-general said in the report's foreword.

"Drawing on the latest scientific evidence, the report sets out the crucial role played by ecosystems, from forests and farmland to rivers and oceans, and it charts the losses that result from a poor stewardship of the planet," the duo added. An estimated 3.2 billion people or 40 percent of the world's population has been affected by habitat depletion, translating into annual loss of ecosystem services equivalent to 10 percent of global economic output.

The report says that restoring at least one billion hectares of degraded land equivalent to the size of China in the next decade will strengthen efforts to combat the triple global ecological crisis of climate change, habitat loss, and pollution.

"In order to embark on a more sustainable pathway, we need both to conserve and restore ecosystems," says the report that was launched ahead of World Environment Day to be marked on Saturday. It notes that healthy, stable and biodiverse ecosystems are the foundation of the health and well-being, as well as that of the fellow species.

The report says that restoring degraded ecosystems will tame the intensity of climatic shocks, avert the spread of pests and diseases besides helping countries manage waste and sustain key economic sectors like agriculture and tourism. And half of the global GDP is dependent on nature yet humanity is exceeding planetary boundaries to sustain the modern lifestyle to the detriment of vital ecosystems.

"We are using the equivalent of 1.6 Earths to maintain our current lifestyle and are putting the future of our economies at extreme risk," says the report, adding that women, girls, children, ethnic minorities, and persons with disabilities have borne the brunt of ecosystem degradation.

The report says that humanity can avert a worst-case scenario by striking a balance between economic developments and sustaining the health of ecosystems through the enactment of smart policies and legislation. Enditem

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