Up to 40% of planet’s land degraded: UN

THE way land resources – soil, water and biodiversity – are currently mismanaged and misused threatens the health and continued survival of many species on the earth, including our own, a stark new report from the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) warned this week.

It also points decision-makers to hundreds of practical ways to effect local, national and regional land and ecosystem restoration.

The UNCCD’s evidence-based flagship Global Land Outlook 2 (GLO2) report, five years in development with 21 partner organisations, and with over 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 to 2050 – business as usual; restoration of 50 million square km of land; and restoration measures augmented by the conservation of natural areas important for specific ecosystem functions. It also assesses the potential contributions of land restoration investments to climate change mitigation, bio-diversity conservation, poverty reduction, human health and other key sustainable development goals.

The report warns: “At no point in modern history has humanity faced such an array of risks and hazards interacting in a hyper-connected and fast-changing world. We can’t afford to underestimate the scale and impact of these existential threats.”