Roots of Prosperity

The report argues that while land restoration offers high economic returns—estimated at $7 to $30 for every dollar invested—it remains severely underfunded with an annual gap of approximately $300 billion. It identifies seven systemic barriers to investment, including the lack of market value for public benefits and long investment horizons. The authors recommend a cross-sectoral government approach, the use of carbon taxes to fund restoration, and the implementation of risk-mitigation tools like first-loss guarantees and tax credits to attract private capital. The document also provides a framework for economic valuation to make the full suite of ecosystem services visible to decision-makers.

• Land degradation is a massive global economic burden, costing an estimated $6.3 trillion annually, which represents approximately 8.3 percent of the 2016 global GDP.
• Restoring degraded forests provides a highly favorable benefit-cost ratio, with estimates suggesting that every $1 invested can yield between $7 and $30 in economic benefits.
• There is a significant financing gap for conservation and restoration, with annual needs estimated between $300 billion and $400 billion, while available funding is only about $50 billion, 80 percent of which is public.
• Seven primary barriers stymie investment in restoration: the lack of market value for environmental/social benefits, perverse incentives to degrade land, difficulty accessing climate finance, reliance on small environmental budgets, project sizes too small for institutional investors, long investment horizons (10-20 years), and high perceived risk.
• Climate finance is disproportionately allocated away from land use; in 2015, only $7 billion (about 5 percent) of the $128 billion in public climate finance was used for land-use projects.
• Agricultural subsidies often act as perverse incentives that promote land degradation; for example, annual subsidies in Indonesia and Brazil are estimated at $27 billion and $10 billion respectively.
• Economic valuation of restoration varies by income level: low-income countries prioritize livelihood improvement, food and water security, and climate resilience, while high-income countries focus on ecological functionality, biodiversity, and scenic beauty.
• Restoration costs vary significantly by region and method; average costs in Africa were found to be $440 per hectare, which is lower than the global average of $1,276, while costs in Latin America and the Caribbean are generally higher (at least $900 per hectare) due to high-input interventions.

APA

Ding, H., Faruqi, S., Wu, A., Altamirano, J. C., Ortega, A. A., Verdone, M., Cristales, R. Z., Chazdon, R., & Vergara, W. (n.d.). Roots of Prosperity. World Resources Institute. https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/roots-of-prosperity.pdf

Chicago

Ding, Helen, Sofia Faruqi, Andrew Wu, Juan Carlos Altamirano, Andrés Anchondo Ortega, Michael Verdone, René Zamora Cristales, Robin Chazdon, and Walter Vergara. Roots of Prosperity. World Resources Institute, n.d. https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/roots-of-prosperity.pdf.

Wikipedia

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BibTeX

@techreport{dingndroots, author = {Ding, Helen and Faruqi, Sofia and Wu, Andrew and Altamirano, Juan Carlos and Ortega, Andrés Anchondo and Verdone, Michael and Cristales, René Zamora and Chazdon, Robin and Vergara, Walter}, title = {{Roots of Prosperity}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/roots-of-prosperity.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }