On 25 September 2015, in New York, 193 Heads of State and Government adopted a resolution entitled ‘Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’ in the United Nations General Assembly. This Resolution defines 17 Sustainable Development Goals as well as 169 targets and can be considered the final integration of ecological, economic and social Sustainable Development objectives, supported by a separately established financing framework, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, as well as a transparent and inclusive reporting system to observe progress as to the achievement of its goals and targets.
Environmental Law Network International, elni Review puts the spotlight on the current state of play as regards legal arrangements and implementation in respect to some of the Resolution’s major objectives. Among these is the target to, “by 2030, combat desertification, restore degraded land and soil, including land affected by desertification, drought and floods, and strive to achieve a land degradation-neutral world”. Measured by this benchmark, and having in mind that 2015 was the “International Year of Soils”, Elizabeth Dooley, Ennid Roberts and Stephanie Wunder analyse the national and international implementation of the “land degradation neutral world” target.