We cannot live without healthy land and soil. It is on land that we produce most of our food and we build our homes. For all species — animals and plants living on land or water — land is vital. Soil — one of the essential components of land — is a very complex and often undervalued element, teeming with life. Unfortunately, the way we currently use land and soil in Europe and in the world is not sustainable. This has significant impacts on life on land.

We recognize the economic and social significance of good land management, including soil, We stress that desertification, land degradation and drought are challenges of a global dimension and continue to pose serious challenges to the sustainable development of all countries, We recognize the need for urgent action to reverse land degradation. In view of this, we will strive to achieve a land-degradation neutral world in the context of sustainable development. Measuring Land degradation is a challenge ①Declining land-productivity ≠ Land degradation e.g.

Trends.Earth (formerly the Land Degradation Monitoring Toolbox) is a platform for monitoring land change using earth observations in an innovative desktop and cloud-based system.

The three sub-indicators for monitoring achievement of Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN, Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Target 15.3), are supported by: productivity, land cover, and soil organic carbon.

This report presents results and conclusions from a Pilot exercise undertaken to assess the experience of
affected country Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) with
reporting on impact indicators under the Convention’s Performance Review and Assessment of the
Implementation System (PRAIS). The experiences and recommendations presented in this report should
be used to guide the 2012–2013 reporting and review process.

In the last decade, there have been a number of global/regional targets and initiatives to halt and reverse land degradation and restore degraded land. Starting in 2010, these include the CBD’s Aichi Biodiversity Targets, one of which aims to restore at least 15% of degraded ecosystems; the Bonn Challenge and its regional initiatives to restore more than 150 million hectares; and most recently the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

As investments in nature are needed more than ever, and are increasingly gaining traction, the challenge is to identify environmental and social risks and to demonstrate positive impacts associated with investing in nature-based projects in a standardized and comparable manner. To help create a clear track record of projects that can be assessed on risk-return-impact profiles, a certain degree of standardization is needed, while maintaining scientific rigor.

The study examines long-term land use/land cover change (LUCC) at a finer scale in a semi-arid region of India. The objectives were to study and quantify the spatiotemporal LUCC and uncover the major drivers causing the change in the Mula Pravara river basin, which is located in a semi-arid region of Maharashtra state, India.

Artisanal and small-scale mining affects the quality and components of the environment in the Batouri area in different ways. Activities interfere with air, soil, water, fauna and forest resources. This study seeks to assess the impacts of mining on the environment using a combination of spatial analysis, questionnaires administration and Leopold’s grid of impact assessment. The impacts of mining on physical environment include air pollution by emission of dusts and fumes from engines, soil and subsoil degradation by earthworks and release of wastewater containing chemicals from companies.