All publications and documents

Desertification and land degradation (DLD) are considered major global change issues. The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 15 (SDG 15) contends that “desertification affects as much as one-sixth of the world’s population, seventy percent of all drylands, and one-quarter of the total land area of the world.” Consequently, DLD is a vital societal concern because of its impacts…

The Working Group II contribution to the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report assesses the impacts of climate change, looking at ecosystems, biodiversity, and human communities at global and regional levels. It also reviews vulnerabilities and the capacities and limits of the natural world and human societies to adapt to climate change. CHAPTER 1 Point of departure and key concepts…

Strong linkages exist between the emergence of infectious diseases and changes in land use. More than 60% of new infectious diseases of humans are transmitted by animals, and most originated in wildlife. The risk of transmission of viruses from animals to humans is higher than ever as people clear forests and fragment habitat to grow crops, keep livestock, and harvest timber and other natural…

When land is degraded and becomes scarce, women and girls are uniquely and differentially affected due to the major role they play in agriculture and food production, their heavy reliance on forests, their vulnerability to poverty, their lack of education, and their typically weak legal protections and social status. Mainstreaming gender responsiveness into land-restoration practice has two main…

To become more resilient, conventional food systems must change. This is vital in the face of growing challenges such as climate change, economic crises, conflict, and major events including the COVID-19 pandemic. This working paper presents one overarching conclusion to building resilient food systems that contribute to land restoration.

Perverse incentives are policies or practices that encourage resource uses that lead to the degradation of biological diversity. They include subsidies, policies and the lack of regulation, and market failures leading to under- or overpricing of products. This working paper categorizes perverse incentives, discusses how to measure land degradation and the effect that perverse incentives have, and…