The business case for regenerative land use

• Currently, one in every five hectares of land on Earth is unusable and by 2050 only 10% of land could be healthy
• Businesses are failing to help protect the resources of healthy ecosystems they depend upon such as land for farming
• The good news is that initiatives like The Great Green Wall are proving that action can be taken now to reverse land degradation

By 2050, 90 per cent of land could become degraded. How can businesses help restore the resources they depend upon? Land restoration, with a ballpark cost of $500 per hectare, is one of the most cost-effective ways to combat business risks. Restoring just 350 million hectares of degraded land could, by 2030, remove greenhouse gases roughly equal to half the world’s annual emissions from the atmosphere. Restoring land can earn an extra $1.4 trillion in agricultural production every year.

Focusing on regenerative land use is an opportunity to safeguard businesses from the impacts of climate change and land degradation. Restoring ecosystems and soil biodiversity is among the most effective weapons against weather extremes. Restoring land can create employment and help a green recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. In the US, first movers have demonstrated that under certain conditions, farms with regenerative practices are an estimated 78% more profitable than those using conventional practices.

Read the latest blog by the UNCCD Executive Secretary Mr. Ibrahim Thiaw for the World Economic Forum: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/01/how-businesses-can-help-restore-land-resources/

Read more:

• The Great Green Wall initiative
• Achieving Land Degradation Neutrality
• UNCCD science-policy blog