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The millennia-old relationship between town and country is being transformed. Rapid urbanization is taking place all over the world, driven largely by rural migration, resulting in urban sprawl and slum developments as well as in the development of high quality infrastructure and overall improvement in the standard of living. The footprint of cities extends far beyond their boundaries but…

Rural communities in drylands are often poorer than elsewhere and the land is more vulnerable to degradation from climate change and direct human pressures. Poor management can lead to desertification. We know how to manage drylands sustainably, but often do not achieve this in practice; policies and agricultural systems need to be transformed if we are to avoid the continued loss of health…

Part Three presents pathways for change, summarizing the critical recommendations from Part Two and outlining strategic priorities for implementation recognizing that decisions and investments made today will influence land use and management tomorrow. We expect that this concluding part of the Outlook will help foster a new vision and agenda for action to ensure a more secure future.

The TOR for the UNCCD SPI is determined by the Commitee for Science and Technology, as outlined in decision 23/COP.11.

THE BIG PICTURE: LAND UNDER PRESSURE The current pressures on land are huge and expected to continue growing: there is rapidly escalating competition between the demand for land functions that provide food, water, and energy, and those services that support and regulate all life cycles on Earth. Land is finite in quantity, however: the evidence presented in this Outlook…

Transformative projects and programmes along with innovative finance are at the core of successful action to achieve Land Degradation Neutrality. Today, the pressure on global land resources is greater than ever. The Earth’s population is fast approaching the 10 billion mark. We will need more food, more energy and more water from the land to survive. These ever-increasing demands on the land…