Resources

This special report on land comes at a time when the scientific evidence is unambiguous: the way we manage our land will directly determine the future of life on Earth. The planetary boundaries framework, highlighted in this report, is a critical scientific tool to understand the complex interdependencies between land, climate, biodiversity and water, among other…

The UNFCCC COP28 and COP30 Presidencies, CBD COP15 and COP16 Presidencies, UNCCD COP15 Presidency and chairs of diverse partnerships, initiatives and coalitions affirm that there is no path to fully achieve the near and long-term goals of the Paris Agreement or the 2030 goals and targets of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework without urgently addressing climate change,…

The publication spotlights the shared agenda of restoration and resilience, central to both UNCCD and the Global Biodiversity Framework of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). It identifies where and how synergies between commitments on biodiversity and land can enhance implementation at global and national…

This report reviews existing indicators and metrics for reporting on biodiversity and recommends, in addition to the Red List Index, a new indicator as an area-based measure of national responses to conserving biodiversity, namely trends in protected area coverage of important…

Sustainable land management (SLM), ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA), ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction (Eco-DRR) and nature-based solutions (NbS) are widely-applied approaches that tackle certain drivers of these challenges in a goal-oriented way, in particular land degradation, climate change impacts and disasters due to natural hazards. UNCCD Decision 19/COP.14 paragraph 42…

The report “Land Degradation Neutrality for Biodiversity Conservation: How Healthy Land Safeguards Nature” highlights how LDN can address the priorities of both the CBD and the UNCCD in an effective and complementary manner. According to the report, LDN and the CBD’s 2011-2020 Strategic Plan for Biodiversity have multiple mutual objectives aimed at promoting the sustainable use of natural…

Land degradation and biodiversity loss are among the most pressing environmental challenges facing humanity. Land degradation has reduced the productivity of nearly one-quarter of the global land surface, impacted the wellbeing of about 3.2 billion people and cost about 10% of annual global gross domestic product in lost ecosystem services. An estimated 23% of total anthropogenic greenhouse…

Forest and land degradation undermines the foundation of human prosperity and well-being. It threatens our food and water supplies, our climate, and the biodiversity that underpins the ecosystems that sustain us. Land degradation is one of the critical elements in the gathering environmental crisis that humanity must address. Only human agency can trigger landscape regeneration by working in…

Numbers can tell a compelling story. In this brochure, the numbers highlight how much we rely on productive land. Amongst other valuable services, land feeds our families, provides fresh water and powers our future ambitions. Much of the data collected here, however, demonstrate how close we are to pushing our relationship with the land to breaking point. The magnitude of the…

The evidence presented in this first edition of the Global Land Outlook demonstrates that informed and responsible decision-making, along with simple changes in our everyday lives, can if widely adopted help to reverse the current worrying trends in the state of our land resources.