All publications and documents

Hyper-arid, arid, semi-arid and dry-sub-humid climate zones (all of them considered drylands) occupy over 40 % of the Earth’s land surface and are home to more than 2 billion people. Contrary to the popular image of this important set of biomes, drylands are home to 36 % of carbon stores, 30 % of forested areas, 50 % of the world’s livestock, and 44 % of croplands. These figures give an idea of…

In January 2021, the Great Green Wall Accelerator was announced at the third One Planet Summit in Paris. Based on the notion of acceleration developed by Harmut Rosa and using the idea of conflicting temporalities in the study of social-ecological systems, this article analyzes how the political will to accelerate the Great Green Wall reveals power dynamics between Western and Sahelian countries…

The Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) adopted a decision on land tenure in 2019, requesting stakeholders to explore options on how to increase knowledge on responsible governance of tenure as a way to achieve land degradation neutrality. In 2022, the Global Land Outlook, a biennial publication of the UNCCD that assesses the global state of land, identified…

As the world addresses the necessary realignment in investment strategies to tackle a range of existential issues including climate change, land degradation, polluted oceans and gender inequality; new ways to securely transfer funds and boost digital & financial inclusion are emerging. A high volume of transactions into more hard-to-reach areas are taking place along non-traditional…

One of the core challenges to achieve Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) is to spatially identify, and strategically prioritise, the areas to implement actions to avoid, reduce and reverse land degradation. To achieve this, a tool for a participatory and data-driven assessment considering both the biophysical, and socio-economic dimensions of land degradation across scales was developed for…