Countries worldwide have pledged through the UN Convention to Combat Desertification to halt, and then reverse, land degradation that is affecting the health of soils and ecosystems globally.

Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) is an innovative approach to achieve this: it aims to prevent and reduce strains on land health while also reversing past damage. The ultimate goal is to achieve a balance where there is no net loss of healthy, productive land on a national and eventually international scale.

But how can leaders turn this concept from reality in practice?

The Global Environment Facility has been actively supporting countries’ efforts to achieve Land Degradation Neutrality through different initiatives over the past decade.

In its sixth replenishment cycle (GEF-6), from 2014 to 2018, it supported the UNCCD’s LDN Target Setting Process through a project that applies the LDN response hierarchy to avoid, reduce, and reverse land degradation as developed in the scientific conceptual framework that defines the national LDN target setting for 77 countries.

Subsequently, in the GEF's 2018 to 2022 funding period (GEF-7), the land degradation focal area strategy was fully aligned with LDN. More recently, an LDN approach has shown great potential to serve as an integrative framework for improving land-based natural capital and generating global environmental outcomes, and for achieving objectives of the GEF-8 Ecosystem Restoration Integrated Program.

To foster adoption of LDN as a policy priority, and to facilitate the exchange of information about challenges and lessons learned in this area, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the GEF, in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment and Water and Ecological Transition in Ecuador, organized a regional workshop on Land Degradation Neutrality that gathered together leaders from across Latin America and the Caribbean.

The workshop in Quito, Ecuador, brought together representatives from 13 countries that have pursued LDN projects, including Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkiye, Uruguay, and Venezuela, along with UNCCD's focal points and representatives of other organizations. Turkiye was invited to participate in the workshop to share their extensive experience with LDN practices and their development of a Decision Support System related to this area.

Throughout the workshop, practitioners and technical experts shared their experiences implementing LDN in different countries. One of the important concepts of these LDN projects highlighted during the workshop was the value of an inclusive approach.

Pablo Caza, from Ecuador, highlighted his country's achievements in revising LDN targets, first developed in 2017, through multi-stakeholder engagement, including with agricultural authorities. Ecuador is developing action plans related to LDN through collaboration with various ministries and stakeholders, including local governments and small-scale farmers.

Enrique Vargas, from FAO Panama, discussed the challenges of gender mainstreaming – engaging with more women on land use management and planning – in LDN since most landowners in the country are men. Sibel Tekin from FAO Turkiye shared experiences from efforts to address gender mainstreaming in LDN by engaging and empowering women through farmers' field schools.

Harold Gutierrez, from Nicaragua’s Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources, also showcased his country’s management of ecosystem services in high-value pine forests by Indigenous communities, which played a crucial role in maintaining pine forests as a source of livelihood for Indigenous Peoples. READ further from the source