Develop and implement a Western Balkans Forest Landscape Restoration Plan

ROADMAP PROGRESS

The 2025 GARI reports that a regional gathering held in Belgrade on 26 and 27 January 2026, convened by IUCN under the BDTF WB framework, advanced the development of the WB6 Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR) Plan, described in a subsequent IUCN publication as ‘a bold step towards forest landscape restoration in the Western Balkans’. The event brought together biodiversity and forestry experts from across the region to define the mission, goals and monitoring framework for forest landscape restoration, and two thematic groups were formally constituted under the BDTF WB at that meeting. It was organised within the framework of Nature Aligned Western Balkans, funded through the Advisory Assistance Programme of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment and supervised by the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation and the German Environment Agency, and was co-led with ADAPT 2.0, funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), with additional contributions through Greening the Western Balkans, funded by the Austrian Development Agency as part of International Partnerships Austria.

The foundation for the FLR Plan is the Restoration Opportunities Assessment Report (ROAR), currently in development, which will deliver an overall analysis of the state of forest landscapes across the region, including biodiversity aspects, changes in forest cover and disaster-prone areas. A key output will be spatial maps identifying priority forest landscapes for restoration, with a focus on enhancing ecological integrity and habitat connectivity, safeguarding areas critical for biodiversity and reducing disaster risk. The ROAR is expected to be finalised in 2026 and will serve as the direct basis for preparing the Plan. Once endorsed, the Plan will provide a coordinated framework to guide restoration efforts across the region and is expected to advance commitments under the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and the Paris Agreement. The 2025 GARI notes that mobilisation of resources from the donor community and the private sector will be essential to translating the Plan’s goals into restoration outcomes on the ground.

Note: Action 53 of the first Green Agenda Action Plan (2021–2030) is transferred to the Revised Action Plan (2025–2030) under Action 39, which provides for the development and commencement of implementation of a coordinated WB6 Forest Landscape Restoration Plan.