Top government, business and civil society leaders from several countries, including India, have formed a unique alliance to deal with climate change. They launched an ambitious programme to restore 150 million hectares of lost forests and degraded land within nine years. The alliance was formed at the two-day conference on climate change organised jointly by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and the German Ministry for Environment in the city of Bonn. The meet titled 'Bonn Challenge on Forests, Climate Change and Bio-diversity' was aimed at securing a broad support from government, business and civil society leaders for forest conservation efforts and thereby making a contribution to reducing global warming. The participants pledged to work together to stem rapidly expanding deforestation in many parts of the world and reverse the loss and degradation of forests in an area equivalent to half the size of Asia till 2020.