The IPCC approved and accepted the special report titled 'Climate Change and Land: an IPCC special report on climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems' (SRCCL) at its 50th Session held on the 2nd to 7th of August 2019 in Geneva. The SRCCL’s Summary for Policymakers (SPM) was approved by the IPCC plenary on 6 August 2019.

The special report was prepared under the joint scientific leadership of Working Groups I, II, III and the Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories and supported by the WG III Technical Support Unit. For the first time, more authors (53%) of an IPCC report were from developing than developed countries. 40% of the coordinating lead authors were women.

Presentations by Valérie Masson-Delmotte (IPCC WG I Co-Chair) and Hans-Otto Pörtner (IPCC WG II Co-Chair)

Land is a critical resource –we rely on it for food, water, health and wellbeing –but it is already under growing human pressure. Climate change is adding to these pressures

Human activities directly affect more than 70% of the global, ice-free and surface
•People currently use ¼ to 1/3 of land’s potential net primary production for food, feed, timber and energy
•About 1/4 of the global ice-free land area is subject to human-induced degradation

Since 1961, population growth and changes in per capita consumption of food, feed, fiber, timber and energy have caused unprecedented rates of land and freshwater use

The food system is under pressureand is vulnerable to climate change
Per capita supplyof foodcalories +1/3 since1961
Per capita consumption of vegetable oils and meat x2
▪821 million people still undernourished 2 billion people now being overweight or obese
▪25 to 30% of total food produced is lost or wasted
▪Climate change is already affecting food security
Yields of some crops in lower-latitude regions(ex. maize, wheat, barley)
Animal growth rates and productivity in pastoral systems in Africa

Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use account for around 23% of total net anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions