A new financing window under the ADB’s Nature Solutions Finance Hub aims to restore one million hectares and build drought resilience by 2035 amid rising degradation threats.

The Asian Development Bank and partners have launched the Financing Investments and Eradicating Land Degradation and Desertification (FIELD) Initiative, seeking to mobilise $2 billion by 2035 for land restoration and drought resilience programmes across Asia and the Pacific.

The initiative arrives as the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification holds its 17th Conference of the Parties in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, under the theme “Restoring Land, Restoring Hope,” and during the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists.

Addressing a Regional Crisis

Land degradation and desertification pose a critical threat to ecosystems that sustain millions of rural communities and underpin economic growth in the region – a challenge no single country can tackle alone, said ADB Vice-President for East and Southeast Asia and the Pacific Scott Morris.

Worsening drought, soil erosion and unsustainable land use are degrading dryland ecosystems that support more than 40 per cent of the region’s population. These pressures threaten agricultural production, biodiversity and climate resilience. An already large financing gap for sustainable management and restoration of ecosystems is widening, particularly for rangelands, which cover 54 per cent of the world’s land surface and store up to 30 per cent of global soil carbon.

Globally, up to 40 per cent of the world’s land is already degraded, affecting more than 3.2 billion people. By 2050, drought could affect three out of every four people.

FIELD will help countries design projects, access finance and implement land restoration efforts. It will deploy innovative approaches such as de-risking structures, blended finance and capital market instruments to catalyse private capital. A pipeline of projects focused on land and forest restoration as well as river-basin and water management has already been identified.

The initiative aims to bring about one million hectares of land under sustainable management by 2035 to reduce degradation and strengthen food and water security. It will also provide grants and technical assistance to help ADB’s developing member countries develop policies, build capacity and establish a knowledge platform.

Broader Nature and Food Systems Push

FIELD operates as a dedicated land restoration and drought resilience window under the Nature Solutions Finance Hub, an ADB-led platform launched in 2023 to scale nature-positive investment in Asia and the Pacific. The Hub aims to catalyse at least $5 billion in nature-based solutions by 2030 through blended finance, policy support and project preparation.

The new initiative aligns with ADB’s Environment Action Plan and its $40 billion commitment by 2030 to transform food systems across the region. That larger agenda expands earlier food security support to modernise value chains, improve soil quality, conserve biodiversity and reach more than 190 million smallholder farmers.

FIELD also contributes to the Riyadh Action Agenda, advanced by Saudi Arabia during its UNCCD COP16 presidency, which seeks to mobilise state and non-state actors behind land restoration and drought resilience. Its launch coincides with the Global Rangelands Flagship Initiative led by Mongolia and the UNCCD.

“The Global Rangelands Flagship Initiative is about moving from recognition to implementation at scale,” said UNCCD Executive Secretary Yasmine Fouad. “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.”

Building Partnerships for Scale

Partners that have expressed initial interest in collaborating under FIELD include the UNCCD, the Qatar Fund for Development and the Middle East Green Initiative. Existing Nature Solutions Finance Hub partners – among them the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the European Union, the OPEC Fund for International Development, and Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development together with GIZ – are also part of the collaboration.

The timing is significant. Mongolia, host of COP17, ranks among the countries most affected by desertification, with nearly 77 per cent of its territory already degraded. The conference emphasises scaled-up finance, sustainable rangeland management and practical delivery on the ground.

ADB has already piloted related work, including a grassland carbon restoration project in Mongolia designed to generate carbon credits from improved livestock and grazing management, and various landscape and irrigation initiatives across the region.

From Commitment to Bankable Action

Experts note that every dollar invested in restoration can generate between seven and 30 dollars in returns, yet public funding alone cannot close the gap. Blended finance, de-risking tools and clear project pipelines are essential to attract private capital into what have traditionally been seen as high-risk, long-horizon investments.

By embedding FIELD within the Nature Solutions Finance Hub and linking it to ADB’s wider food systems and environment strategies, the bank is positioning land restoration as both an ecological necessity and an economic opportunity. Success will depend on converting the $2 billion target into concrete, well-structured projects that deliver measurable gains in soil health, water security, biodiversity and rural livelihoods across Asia and the Pacific by 2035.