Climate change is amplifying the risk of extreme weather disasters by increasing the destructive power of storms and floods. At the same time, rising seas, shifting rainfall patterns, drought and other slow-onset changes are eroding people’s land, natural resources and security, and magnifying existing vulnerabilities.

"There is no peace without tackling food security and eliminating hunger and there will be no food without tackling climate change.” A couple of days ago, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has published a new and all-encompassing framework on climate change. The organization acknowledges the enormous threats posed by climate change, and outlines how it will tackle environmental changes in the future.

Land is already under growing human pressure and climate change is adding to these pressures. The Special Report on Climate Change and Land, launched by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on 8 August 2019, looks into land resources as critical for the climate, and highlights the importance of sound land management for addressing climate change. The report will be a key scientific input into forthcoming climate and environment negotiations.

Despite six years of crisis in Syria, agriculture remains a key part of the economy. The sector still accounts for an estimated 26 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) and represents a critical safety net for the 6.7 million Syrians – including those internally displaced - who still remain in rural areas. However, agriculture and the livelihoods that depend on it have suffered massive loss. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has now conducted the first comprehensive nationwide assessment on the cost of the war to the agriculture sector.

Fin juin 2019, la Commission européenne a annoncé avoir conclu un accord de principe en vue d’un accord de libre-échange avec le Mercosur. Ce bloc commercial sud-américain est composé de l’Argentine, du Brésil, du Paraguay et de l’Uruguay. L’accord envisagé est l’un des volets d’un accord d’association plus global. Il est fortement décrié par la société civile et certains gouvernements. La présente publication est proposée par MISEREOR, Greenpeace, la CIDSE, le CCFD-Terre Solidaire et Entraide & Fraternité.

Drawing on a wide variety of international scientific and technical assessments and policy reports, this comprehensive study depicts the linkages - both physical and biochemical - between important environmental issues.
It also discusses how interlinked, global environmental issues can be confronted in an integrated manner and how such issues influence our ability to meet basic human needs. See also trends, causes, social and economic consequences, technologies, policies and measures to mitigate desertification and land degradation.

Arid and semi-arid biomes support valuable ecosystems with livelihoods linked to rain-fed agriculture and pastoralism and have unique biodiversity and cultural values. However, desertification is land degradation in dry-lands that leads to loss of productivity and ecosystem services. Climate change is expected to increase arid biomes and stress on dry-lands due to increase in temperature and decrease in precipitation that will impact vegetation, livestock and people.

Up to 2.5 billion people depend on indigenous and community lands, which make up over 50 percent of the land on the planet; they legally own just one-fifth. The remaining land remains unprotected and vulnerable to land grabs from more powerful entities like governments and corporations. There is growing evidence of the vital role played by full legal ownership of land by indigenous peoples and local communities in preserving cultural diversity and in combating poverty and hunger, political instability and climate change.

The land use sector represents almost 25% of total global emissions. These emissions can be reduced. There is also great potential for carbon sequestration through the scaling up, and scaling out, of proven and effective practices. Improved land use and management, such as low-emissions agriculture, agro-forestry and ecosystem conservation and restoration could, under certain circumstances, further reduce the remaining emissions gap by up to 25%. These climate-smart land management practices nearly always come with adaptation co-benefits.

As World leaders forged two new big deals in late 2015 – the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Climate Change Agreements – over 200 experts and technical officers working in fields related to land and water management, participated in the 3rd Land and Water Days held at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Headquarters in Rome, from 10 to 12 November 2015.

It took scientists more than three decades to transform a perceived desertification crisis in the Sahel into a non-event. Looking beyond the Sahel, the chapters in this book provide case studies from around the world that examine the use and relevance of the desertification concept.