Land degradation remains a serious threat to livelihoods in Eastern Africa. The total population of sub-Saharan Africa is currently estimated at 750 million people, but it is projected to exceed the one billion mark by 2020. The demand for food is putting increasing pressure on the natural resource base. The current debate on the land degradation situation in Eastern Africa is short of consensus because of misunderstanding misinterpretation and discrepancies in the available information.

Suboptimal land management practices are degrading soils and undermining food production. Sustainable land management (SLM) practices can improve soil and enhance yields.

At the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Summit on 25-26 September 2015, world leaders adopted the global framework ‘Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’, which included 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets. The 2030 Agenda builds on the Millennium Development Goals and aims to eradicate poverty, leaving no one behind, and to shift the world on to a sustainable and resilient path.

Gender equity is a matter of fundamental human rights and social justice, as well as a pre-condition for sustainable development. The empowerment of women and gender equity has been recognized as a significant driver of development, enhancing the effectiveness of programs, projects, and initiatives.

The Sustainable Development Report 2019 – Mediterranean Countries Edition is a synthetic review of the fourth edition of the Sustainable Development Report 2019, including integrated contents and tables editing, specifically focusing on 23 Mediterranean countries. It was drafted by a team of experts of the University of Siena – Santa Chiara Lab, as hosting institution of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network for the Mediterranean Area (SDSN-Mediterranean), in an effort to raise awareness on the SDGs and foster the implementation of transformation strategies.

The 2012 Rio+20 Summit committed to developing integrated Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for achieving a harmonious relationship among economic development, social inclusion, and environmental sustainability by 2030. Seventeen of the SDGs were adopted by all the signatories by 2015.

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.

In West Africa, many countries are adversely affected by the effects of desertification, land degradation and drought(DLDD), with climate change also increasingly making an impact on local livelihoods. The most visible consequences are a loss of soil fertility and a reduction in agricultural productivity, which can lead to food and social crises and, consequently, to increased poverty. Furthermore, farmers are often forced to exploit the land to its maximum capacity in order to obtain good yields and to avoid the risk of famine.

This 2019 SDG Index and Dashboards Report for European Cities (prototype version) provides an overview of the performance of 45 capital cities and large metropolitan areas on the Agenda 2030 and 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by global leaders in September 2015 at the UN Sustainable Development Summit.

The deterioration of land resources in the world's arid and semi-arid regions is one of the gravest problems facing our planet and its people. Desertification, broadly defined, is one of the principal barriers to sustainable food security and sustainable livelihoods in our world today. It is not a future global threat; it is a devastating day-to-day local reality.

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 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.