Leveraging LDN Commitments to Boost Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security. The greatest prospects for reversing land degradation, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions and biodiversity loss lie in transforming how we use and manage human, financial and natural capital to produce, distribute, and consume food.
The UN Secretary-General’s Food Systems Summit 2021 offers a timely opportunity for countries pursuing Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) response actions to align with the Summit’s game-changing solutions, new business models, and innovative partnerships.
Confronting Global Land Challenges. While supply chains and consumer choices are increasingly extravagant and wasteful, food production systems are also highly inefficient, contributing to more than a quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions while rapidly depleting the Earth’s finite natural capital, namely soil, water, and biodiversity.

# Land degradation directly undermines our ability to deliver food and nutritional security.
# By 2050, crop yields are estimated to decrease by 10% globally due to land degradation and climate change, with some regions suffering up to a 50% reduction.
# Furthermore, land degradation is projected to fuel an estimated 30% increase in world food prices over the next 25 years.
# Given the expected growth in global population and food demand by 2050, conserving, sustainably managing, and restoring land resources will be essential in the transition to sustainable food production, requiring at least a 75% reduction in current yield gaps.

The amount and quality of agricultural land is under increasing pressure from multiple societal demands.
Well documented strategies for reducing these pressures include:
• Shifting to plant-based diets and reducing food loss/ waste,
• Increasing protection and land set-asides for nature,
• Boosting nature-positive food production

This analysis of national LDN reports, submitted as of the end of 2020, has identified a total of 842 response actions adopted by 86 countries.
These include 25 categories of response actions aimed at transforming food systems through implementing more responsible governance, building resilient agroecosystems, and improving the management of demand-side drivers, supply chains, and risk. Furthermore, these response actions would help countries to build back better after the
COVID-19 pandemic and help mitigate the impacts of future crises.