This brief was prepared as a follow-up to the "Science briefs on targets, goals and monitoring in support of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework negotiations" that were coordinated by Future Earth and GEO BON in support of the WG2020-4 meeting in Nairobi, Kenya in June 2022(CBD/WG2020/4/INF/2/Rev.2).

Specifically, the objective of this brief is to extract and refine key messages from the "Ecosystems" brief (Ecosystems Area and Integrity; https://geobon.org/science-briefs/) to provide concise messages concerning ecosystem restoration and land degradation.

This is in response to informal discussions held with Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the CBD Secretariat, the OEWG Co-Chairs and stakeholders. In particular, the "Ecosystem Area and
Integrity" section of the science briefs was considered to provide important scientific background for negotiations, but it was also found to be too complex to directly apply to negotiation of targets related to restoration.

Key numbers (all numbers approximate)
• 2700 to 5400 million hectares (Mha): In its recent Global Land Outlook 2 (GLO2), the
UNCCD indicated that 20-40% of global land area is considered degraded.
• Less than 1000 to over 6000 million hectares (Mha): This larger range was reported in the
synthesis of Gibbs & Salmon (2015).
• 10,000 million hectares (Mha): An even greater fraction of land, approximately three quarters
of terrestrial ecosystems, has been significantly altered by human activities and could be
considered degraded from their natural state.
Notes: 1000 million hectares (Mha) = 1 billion hectares = 10 million km2, which is roughly the area of
Canada. Percent land area was converted to millions of hectares (Mha) using a value of 13400 Mha for
the total global ice-free land area throughout this brief

In its recent Global Land Outlook 2 (GLO2), the UNCCD indicated that 20-40% of global land area is
considered degraded (UNCCD 2022), which equals about 2700-5400 million hectares (Mha) of land.
An even larger range of less than 1000 to over 6000 Mha was reported in the synthesis of Gibbs &
Salmon (2015). An even greater fraction of land, approximately three quarters of terrestrial ecosystems
(approximately 10 billion hectares), has been significantly altered by some form of industrial level
activity and could be considered degraded from their natural state (IPBES 2019, Riggio et al. 2020)

The Secretariat of the Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO BON) and the bioDISCOVERY programme of Future Earth have convened a group of international experts to prepare a series of science briefs to provide scientific support for the negotiations of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework at the fourth meeting of the Open-ended Working Group (WG2020-4) held in Nairobi, Kenya (21-26 June 2022).