From Land Degradation to Land Restoration

The document traces the history of international efforts to combat land degradation, from the 1972 Stockholm Conference to the establishment of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). It details the shift toward 'land degradation neutrality' (LDN), a goal integrated into SDG target 15.3, which aims to balance productive land loss with recovery. The paper identifies critical barriers to LDN implementation, including insecure land tenure, gender inequality in land ownership, lack of national coordination, and insufficient funding, while highlighting initiatives like the Great Green Wall and the LDN Fund.

• Global land degradation is widespread and costly, with 25% of the world's total land area currently degraded and an estimated annual economic cost of USD 85.8 trillion.
• If current trends in unsustainable agricultural practices continue, which result in the annual loss of 24 billion tons of fertile soil, up to 95% of Earth's land areas could be degraded by 2050.
• International land governance shifted from the ineffective, top-down approach of the 1977 Plan of Action to Combat Desertification (PACD) to the community-based, 'bottom-up' approach adopted by the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).
• Land degradation neutrality (LDN) is defined as a state where the quality and amount of land resources needed for ecosystem services and food security remain stable or increase. It is formally integrated into the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development as SDG target 15.3.
• Gender inequality significantly hinders land restoration; women's share of agricultural land holdings varies from 0.8% in Saudi Arabia to 51% in Cabo Verde, with a global average of 12.8%.
• The Great Green Wall initiative, launched by the African Union in 2007, aims to restore 100 million hectares of degraded land, sequester 250 million tons of carbon, and create 10 million green jobs by 2030 across more than 20 African countries.
• Traditional financial sources and official development assistance are insufficient to rehabilitate the 12 million hectares of degraded land required annually, leading to the creation of the independent Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) Fund to attract blended public and private investment.

APA

Chasek,, P. (2022). From Land Degradation to Land Restoration. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/articles/deep-dive/land-degradation-land-restoration

Chicago

Chasek,, Pamela. From Land Degradation to Land Restoration. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2022. https://www.iisd.org/articles/deep-dive/land-degradation-land-restoration.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Chasek, |first1=Pamela |title=From Land Degradation to Land Restoration |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=11 January 2022 |url=https://www.iisd.org/articles/deep-dive/land-degradation-land-restoration |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{chasek2022from, author = {Chasek,, Pamela}, title = {{From Land Degradation to Land Restoration}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2022}, month = jan, url = {https://www.iisd.org/articles/deep-dive/land-degradation-land-restoration}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }