As of 2017, SGP has awarded over 3,800 small grants to land degradation projects in over 120 countries, many of which are in regions with extreme levels of poverty and food insecurity across Africa and Latin America. Africa, in particular, is experiencing the highest population growth of the developing world, while being exposed and vulnerable to the rising impact from climate change.

Established in 1994, the United Nations to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) is the sole legally binding international agreement linking environment and development to sustainable land management. The Convention addresses specifically the arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas, known as the drylands, where some of the most vulnerable ecosystems and peoples can be found.

Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target 15.3 commits countries to strive towards land degradation neutrality (LDN) by 2030. LDN requires reductions in land quality to be balanced by efforts to restore or rehabilitate degraded areas. However, decisions need to be made as to where to invest given limited budgets and the impossibility of targeting all degraded land. Any prioritisation process is likely to be controversial and needs to be underpinned by transparent, justifiable, repeatable decision processes.

Established in 1994, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) is the sole legally binding international agreement linking environment and development to sustainable land management. The Convention addresses specifically the arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas, known as the drylands, where some of the most vulnerable ecosystems and peoples can be found.

Land Degradation Neutrality is one of the Sustainable Development Goal targets, requiring on-going degradation to be balanced by restoration and sustainable land management. However, restoration and efforts to prevent degradation have often failed to deliver expected benefits, despite enormous investments. Better acknowledging the close relationships between climate, land management and non-linear ecosystem dynamics can help restoration activities to meet their intended goals, while supporting climate change adaptation and mitigation.

Pressing issues such as water and food security, health, peace, and poverty are deeply linked to land degradation. The authors use China’s major land restoration programs as a case offering perspective on the existing problems in China’s major policies for improving degraded land and maintaining land resources in three dimensions.

Land is the foundation for all life on Earth. How land is used and managed influences nature, food, water, energy, climate, and even our health. Today, the pressures on land and the wealth of resources it provides are greater than at any other time in human history.

Land provides crucial ecosystem services for human existence and human well-being, including provisioning, regulating, supporting and cultural services. Those services provide among others the production of fresh air, food, feed, fuel and fibre. They regulate the risks of natural hazards and climate change, offer cultural and spiritual values to our society, and support key ecological functions such as nutrient and water cycling, filtering and buffering, and are central to economic vitality.

Los recursos de aguas, tierras y suelos del mundo están sometidos a presiones debido a que deben satisfacer la mayor demanda de alimentos. La agricultura reviste importancia para mitigar estas presiones y contribuir positivamente a los objetivos relacionados con el clima y el desarrollo. Las prácticas agrícolas sostenibles pueden dar lugar a mejoras directas en el estado de la tierra, el suelo y el agua, así como generar beneficios ecosistémicos y reducir las emisiones derivadas de la tierra.

Es importante notar que las pérdidas y daños tienen una dimensión económica pero también tienen una dimensión no-económica. Los aspectos no económicos pueden incluir la cultura, tradiciones, idiomas, etc. Las pérdidas y daños tienen un impacto significativo en los derechos humanos de las personas y sus comunidades (Serdeczny 2019; Martínez et al. 2022; Martínez 2021; Albar et al. 2020).

يتناول هذا الدليل التقني، الذي اشتركت في إعداده أمانتا منظمة الأمم المتحدة للأغذية والزراعة (الفاو) واتفاقية الأمم المتحدة لمكافحة التصحر، بمساهمات من أصحاب المصلحة المتعددين، إدماج المبادئ التوجيهية الطوعية بشأن الإدارة المسؤولة لحيازة الأراضي ومصائد الأسماك والغابات في سياق الأمن الغذائي الوطني في تنفيذ اتفاقية الأمم المتحدة لمكافحة التصحر وتحييد أثر تدهور الأراضي. وبالتالي فتح فصل جديد في الجهود الجارية لمكافحة التصحر وتدهور الأراضي والجفاف.

Producida conjuntamente por las secretarías de la Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Agricultura y la Alimentación (FAO) y la Convención de las Naciones Unidas de Lucha contra la Desertificación (CLD), con contribuciones de múltiples partes interesadas, esta guía técnica aborda la integración de las Directrices voluntarias sobre la gobernanza responsable de la tenencia de la tierra, la pesca y los bosques en el contexto de la seguridad alimentaria nacional (DVGT) dentro de la aplicación de la CLD y la Neutralidad en la degradación de las tierras (NDT), abriendo así un nuevo capítul