Why investing in land is a business imperative for a sustainable future

The document highlights the existential threat posed by land degradation and drought to global economies, noting that $44 trillion of global GDP is at moderate to high risk. It advocates for private sector investment in land restoration as a business imperative for risk mitigation, productivity, and regulatory compliance, framing the upcoming UNCCD COP16 in Riyadh as a critical moment for accelerating these actions.

• Land degradation and drought pose a severe economic threat, with the 2002 Global Land Outlook report estimating that nearly half of global GDP, approximately $44 trillion, is at moderate to high risk.
• Current land degradation is occurring at a rate of 100 million hectares of healthy and productive lands per year, with soils that take hundreds of years to form being depleted in weeks.
• Recent drought events have caused significant global disruptions, including the 2022 drought in the La Plata Basin of Brazil-Argentina (the worst in 78 years), a 2022 European drought (the worst in 500 years), and conditions in the Horn of Africa in December 2022 that left 23 million people severely food insecure.
• Land restoration in developing nations offers specific quantitative benefits: crop yields could increase by 6-10%, carbon storage could increase by approximately 17Gt by 2050, and biodiversity decline could be reduced by 11% by 2050.
• The business case for land restoration is based on five primary drivers: risk mitigation for resource-reliant businesses, enhanced agricultural productivity, improved brand value and corporate responsibility, the creation of new markets and innovation, and better positioning for regulatory compliance and incentives.

APA

Thiaw, I. (2024). Why investing in land is a business imperative for a sustainable future. World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/stories/nature-and-biodiversity/investing-land-business-imperative-sustainable-future/

Chicago

Thiaw, Ibrahim. Why investing in land is a business imperative for a sustainable future. World Economic Forum, 2024. https://www.weforum.org/stories/nature-and-biodiversity/investing-land-business-imperative-sustainable-future/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Thiaw |first1=Ibrahim |title=Why investing in land is a business imperative for a sustainable future |publisher=World Economic Forum |date=16 January 2024 |url=https://www.weforum.org/stories/nature-and-biodiversity/investing-land-business-imperative-sustainable-future/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{thiaw2024why, author = {Thiaw, Ibrahim}, title = {{Why investing in land is a business imperative for a sustainable future}}, publisher = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2024}, month = jan, url = {https://www.weforum.org/stories/nature-and-biodiversity/investing-land-business-imperative-sustainable-future/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }