Restoring Land Through Integrated Efforts: Unlocking Opportunities for Today’s Needs and Sustainability Tomorrow
-A Policy Brief

The document is a Policy Brief prepared by WOTR and its Centre for Resilience Studies (W-CReS) with support from the Economics of Land Degradation (ELD) Initiative.

It emphasizes that land restoration is central to India’s food, water, and livelihood security amidst rising climate risks, population pressures, and widespread land degradation. The policy calls for a shift from fragmented, short-term, sectoral interventions to a holistic, integrated and community-led approach.

Key messages include:

• The need for an “Evergreen Revolution” that integrates forestry, agriculture, and rural development.
• Science and community participation—especially involving women and youth—are essential.
• Land restoration should follow a sequenced pathway:
  1. Ecosystem-based watershed restoration
  2. Climate-resilient agriculture with water management
  3. Securing long-term economic returns through market linkages
• Innovative financing (blended finance, restoration bonds, outcome-based models) must replace short-term project funding.
• Robust monitoring and evaluation frameworks should focus on outcomes (soil health, biodiversity, water security, livelihoods) rather than outputs.

The brief concludes that collaboration across government, CSR donors, communities, scientists and practitioners is critical to scale up restoration efforts and achieve India’s sustainability vision.

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