All publications and documents

The world, including the Mediterranean region, is faced with a number of challenges, such as inequalities, significant flows of distress migration and limited access to and poor management of natural resources, including water, land and biodiversity. Various forms of waste related to food, natural resources and knowledge are embedded in these challenges and pose significant obstacles for the…

There is a sense that the world food system has reached an impasse. Hunger afflicts at least an eighth of the world population (FAO, 2012), mostly in the global South, but also in the North where austerity policies – which respond to crisis by prioritising the interests of the wealthy – leave working people hungry. What is even more serious is that even this damaged ‘food security’ cannot be…

Soils are an essential and non-renewable natural resource hosting goods and services vital to ecosystems and human life. Soils are fundamental for producing crops, feed, fibre, fuel, and they filter and clean tens of thousands of cubic kilometers of water each year. As a major storehouse for carbon, soils also help regulate emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, which is…

Land in Balance is a science-policy brief prepared by the UNCCD Science-Policy Interface (SPI). It gives an overview of the scientific conceptual framework for land degradation neutrality (LDN). The conceptual framework creates a common understanding of the LDN objective and consistency in approaches to achieving LDN.

(UNCCD) has capitalized on its work to frame land degradation neutrality (LDN), the concept that aims to reach a sustainable balance between the degradation, sustainable management and restoration of land worldwide. This approach has been endorsed in the global goals for sustainable development as target 15.3. This is a potentially “game changing” move. LDN is becoming the organizing principle…

With an expected 9.5 billion people living on earth by 2050, population pressure, higher consumer expectations and climate change will tax and degrade our natural resource base, especially the land. Land degradation puts the livelihoods of billions of people at risk. It threatens the future sustainability of the entire planet. Land degradation is not a stand-alone issue however. It is closely…