The publications includes 40 innovative case studies from all over the world, illustrating how we can restore the health of degraded lands. These cases have been selected from the more than 250 applications received for the UNCCD Land for Life Award during 2011-2013, and from the World Bank’s TerrAfrica portfolio. These stories testify to the fact that desertification and land degradation are not our automatic destiny. We can roll back the encroachment of drylands and reclaim enough fertile land for the world to feed itself, banish malnutrition, and create sustainable land and water management policies. This is what a land-degradation neutral world is about.
We lose more and more fertile land each day to the steady advance of degradation. Let us all cooperate to fight land degradation at all levels, demand action, set measurable targets, and forge partnerships for effective results on the ground.
As the global community comes together to develop the Sustainable Development Goals, now is the time to act on reversing and preventing future land degradation. These stories provide the testimony that it is possible to fight land degradation.