UN urges action to combat land degradation

THE way land resources – soil, water and biodiversity – are mismanaged and misused threatens the health and continued survival of many species on Earth, warns a stark new report from the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

UNCCD’s evidence-based flagship Global Land Outlook 2 (GLO2) report, five years in development with 21 partner organisations, and with more than 1 000 references, is the most comprehensive consolidation of information on the topic ever assembled.

It offers an overview of unprecedented breadth, and projects the planetary consequences of three scenarios through 2050: business as usual, restoration of 50 million square kilometres of land, and restoration measures augmented by the conservation of natural areas important for specific ecosystem functions.

The report has been released before the UNCCD’s 15th session of the Conference of Parties (COP15) to be held in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, next month.

“At no other point in modern history has humanity faced such an array of familiar and unfamiliar risks and hazards, interacting in a hyperconnected and rapidly changing world.

“We cannot afford to underestimate the scale and impact of these existential threats,” the report warns.

“Conserving, restoring and using our land resources sustainably is a global imperative, one that requires action on a crisis footing… Business as usual is not a viable pathway.”

Executive secretary of the UNCCD, Ibrahim Thiaw, said modern agriculture has altered the face of the planet more than any other human activity.

“We need to urgently rethink our global food systems, which are responsible for 80% of deforestation, 70% of freshwater use, and the single greatest cause of terrestrial biodiversity loss.”.

Many regenerative agriculture practices have the potential to increase crop yields and improve their nutritional quality while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and drawing down carbon from the atmosphere, the report says.

Examples include rewilding – reducing the human footprint to allow natural ecological processes to re-establish themselves – in the Greater Côa Valley in northern Portugal and the Iberá wetlands in Argentina; drought preparedness and risk reduction through national programmes in Mexico, the US and Brazil; sand and dust storm source mitigation in Iraq, China and Kuwait; and gender-responsive land restoration in Mali, Nicaragua and Jordan.

Africa’s Great Green Wall, meanwhile, which aims to restore the continent’s degraded landscapes, exemplifies “a regional restoration initiative that embraces an integrated approach with the promise of transforming the lives of millions of people”, the report says.

“The case studies from around the world showcased in GLO2 make clear that land restoration can be implemented in almost all settings and at many spatial scales, suggesting that every country can design and implement a tailored land restoration agenda to meet their development needs,” Thiaw said.

Many of the cases, he added, underscore the value of education, training and capacity building, not just for local communities, but also for government officials, land managers and development planners.

Linking local engagement to national policies and budgets will help ensure a responsive and

well-aligned restoration agenda that delivers tangible outcomes for people, nature and the climate.