The IPCC report on land use and climate change

The document analyzes how human land use drives climate change and how climate change, in turn, degrades land. It highlights that while land currently acts as a net carbon sink, it could become a source of emissions. The brief emphasizes the role of agriculture and deforestation in land degradation and warns that current policy trajectories could significantly expand drylands and threaten global food security. It argues that sustainable land management, incorporating indigenous knowledge and gender-sensitive policies, is essential for limiting temperature rise to 1.5°C.

• Land use change is a significant driver of global emissions, accounting for approximately 23% of total net human emissions between 2007 and 2016, with carbon dioxide emissions from this sector primarily caused by deforestation.
• Although the land system currently functions as a net carbon sink, removing 29% of total human carbon dioxide emissions from 2007 to 2016, climate change may degrade this capacity and potentially turn land into a net source of emissions.
• Human activity affects 75% of the Earth's land surface, with agriculture and timber/logging acting as primary drivers of degradation. Specifically, the expansion of cropland, driven by demand for livestock products, and a nine-fold increase in nitrogen fertilizer use have intensified land degradation.
• Desertification is a critical challenge affecting drylands, which cover nearly half of the world's land surface and house nearly 40% of the population. While causes vary by region—such as drought in Africa and human activity in northern China—desertification reduces soil fertility and carbon sequestration.
• Food systems contribute an estimated 25% to 30% of total human emissions. Climate change threatens food security by reducing crop yields—such as a 5.2% reduction in India between 1981–2009—and increasing the risk of crop failure, price spikes, and malnourishment.
• Future climate scenarios indicate that land management could influence temperature rise by as much as 0.5°C. Under a 4°C warming trajectory, the global area of drylands is projected to increase by 23%, reaching 56% of the total land surface.
• Achieving temperature limits of 1.5°C or 2°C requires land-based mitigation, though the deployment of negative emissions technologies over large areas could inadvertently cause further land degradation.

APA

Team, Z. (2019). The IPCC report on land use and climate change. Zero Carbon Analytics. https://zerocarbon-analytics.org/science/the-ipcc-report-on-land-use-and-climate-change/

Chicago

Team, ZCA. The IPCC report on land use and climate change. Zero Carbon Analytics, 2019. https://zerocarbon-analytics.org/science/the-ipcc-report-on-land-use-and-climate-change/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Team |first1=ZCA |title=The IPCC report on land use and climate change |publisher=Zero Carbon Analytics |date=10 August 2019 |url=https://zerocarbon-analytics.org/science/the-ipcc-report-on-land-use-and-climate-change/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{team2019ipcc, author = {Team, ZCA}, title = {{The IPCC report on land use and climate change}}, institution = {Zero Carbon Analytics}, year = {2019}, month = aug, url = {https://zerocarbon-analytics.org/science/the-ipcc-report-on-land-use-and-climate-change/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }