National Target 15: By 2020, priority degraded ecosystems and habitats are identified and rehabilitated through landscape approach.

While there is baseline information on the acreage and location of degraded and bare areas in the country, what is lacking is information on stages or degree of degradation as well as the kinds of ecosystems which are degraded. The lack of this crucial information has implications on the existing restoration and rehabilitation programs. There is also no institutional mechanism in place to oversee habitat and ecosystem degradation issues in a holistic approach. The National Action Plan (NAP) to combat land degradation is mandated to address the issue on land degradation, therefore the actions proposed in this target are envisaged to complement the NAP on land degradation. In view of the economical costs as well as natural barriers to rehabilitate all degraded ecosystems and areas in the country, this target will focus on understanding the degree and causes of degradation for implementation of appropriate and feasible rehabilitation measures in prioritized degraded areas and ecosystems.