In light of these types of considerations, using objective metrics like economic values provides a way for different stakeholders to compare the trade-offs of alternative future options or scenarios and thus deliberate on land issues from an equally informed position. Considering land issues from the perspective of the economic values that nature provides involves measuring and valuing all of the benefits of land and land-based ecosystems and the services they provide, including what losses are incurred when they are degraded. Combining this information with a thorough understanding of the economic drivers of land degradation, stakeholder needs, and sustainable land management approaches – practices that ensure renewable, resilient and rewarding land uses, and which are becoming increasingly available and accessible – can support better decision-making. And indeed, awareness on the value of nature and the economic losses of its services that result when it is degraded is reaching public consciousness, with a wave of articles and media outlets discussing the value of ecosystem services.

# An ELD study conducted across 42 countries in Africa found that taking action on soil erosion over 105 million hectares would save up to USD 62.4 billion in net present value over the next 15 years.
# Adopting sustainable land management could deliver up to USD 1.4 trillion in increased crop production.
# Cost-effective carbon storage, whereby carbon stocks in land and soil are enhanced, can create value up to USD 480 billion and increase food and water security.
# 60 per cent of the Earth’s land surface is managed, and approximately 60 per cent of that is agricultural land use
# Estimates of the extent of land degradation vary, but approximately one third of the world’s arable land is thought to have been affected by degradation and desertification to date, indicating that it is widespread, on the rise, and occurring in all land cover types and agro-ecologies4, and especially so in drylands
# Novel estimates from the ELD Initiative of the global loss of ecosystem service values (ESV) place the cost between USD 6.3 and 10.6 trillion annually ( see chapter 3A)