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This document provides substantive background information for the midterm evaluation process of the UNCCD 2018-2030 Strategic Framework.

Abiotic factors pose a significant constraint for food security and agricultural production worldwide, and the issue has been exacerbated by extreme and rapid climate change. Heat and drought are the most important limiting factors that have a significant influence on crop growth and production. For better management, it is critical to understand the biochemical, ecological and physiological…

World Soil Day 2021 encouraged the prevention of soil salinization and improved land productivity. As research underpins this effort, we analysed trends in research on water and salt mobilization in saline soils and groundwater over the past 20 years. We found that the average studies have increased by 30%, from 110 in 2003–2015 to 143 in 2016–2022, with agriculture, water resources and…

The ecological consequences of future droughts are difficult to predict due to a limited understanding of the nonlinear responses of plants to increasing drought intensity, which can change abruptly when critical thresholds of drought intensity are crossed. Drought responses are composed of resistance and postdrought recovery. Although it is well established that higher drought intensity…

Building more sustainable, equitable, and resilient food systems means rethinking how we consume, produce, and safeguard agrobiodiversity that can benefit the planet and secure access to nutritious food for all. This was the purpose of the 2021 Second International Agrobiodiversity Congress, convening scientists, Indigenous Peoples, entrepreneurs, and policymakers to share and advance research,…

Land degradation is the persistent reduction in the capacity of the land to support human and other life on Earth (IPBES, 2018). This process jeopardizes the provision of ecosystem services. The Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 15, ‘Life on Land’, includes efforts to sustainably manage and recover natural ecosystems and restore degraded land and soil. Under the umbrella of SDG 15, the United…