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Land Degradation Neutrality – a New Impetus for Addressing the Degradation of Land and Soils RURAL 21 01/18 33 LAND DEGRADATION NEUTRALITY – A NEW IMPETUS FOR ADDRESSING THE DEGRADATION OF LAND AND SOILS With the target on Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) the Sustainable Development Goals have created new political momentum to address land degradation. The UN Convention to Combat Desertification adopted LDN as its central objective and supports countries in defining national targets to avoid degradation and restore degraded land. This provides an opportunity to advance action against land and soil degradation on national agendas, reform respective policy instruments and mobilise additional funding. By Alexander Erlewein and Antje Hecheltjen and degradation is an increasingly severe A NEGLECTED PROBLEM the only legally binding international agree- Lglobal environmental and development ment to address land and soil degradation. De- problem. Each year an additional area of 12 Irrespective of the fundamental challenge that spite being one of the three Rio Conventions, million hectares of agricultural land get de- land degradation poses to rural development in the actual influence of the UNCCD has been graded and soil erosion amounts to an esti- many parts of the world, awareness among the limited in the past. This may be explained by mated 24 billion tons (3 tons per capita). The public and policy-makers is generally low. Soil its formally restricted mandate on land deg- manifestations of land degradation are diverse continues to be a neglected resource whose radation in drylands, i.e. desertification, and and context-specific, but are always character- degradation usually takes place slowly and only a regional focus on Africa. More important- ised by the degradation of soil, vegetation and/ becomes visible at a late stage. Moreover, land ly though, the convention lacks a clear and or water resources – predominantly through and soil are often perceived as private prop- quantifiable target. unsustainable forms of land use. This results in erty rather than public goods, while political a massive loss of ecosystem services, with the responsibility cuts across the agricultural and reduction in agricultural productivity being a environmental ministries. Whereas the agri- AWARENESS OF LAND DEGRADATION main concern. The increasing degradation of cultural sector tends to perceive soil fertility as IS GROWING land and soils is therefore a major threat to a mere function of input supply, the environ- food security and the resilience of rural com- mental sector largely reduces land degradation However, attention has been growing over munities while contributing to climate change to land cover change, with a focus on defor- the last few years. A number of internation- and biodiversity loss. In total, the estimated estation. al initiatives (such as the Global Soil Week, annual costs of land degradation world-wide the Food and Agriculture Organization’s amount to 400 billion US dollars. At the international level, the UN Conven- Global Soil Partnership or the Economics of tion to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) is Photo: Georgina Smith, CIAT Georgina Photo: 34 INTERNATIONAL PLATFORM Land Degradation Initiative) as well as several The LDN response hierarchy high-ranking scientific assessments have raised the awareness of decision-makers. A particu- AVOID Avoid – Land degradation can be avoided by addressing drivers of larly important step was the integration of land degradation and through proactive measures to prevent adverse and soil degradation into Agenda 2030. SDG change in quality of non-degraded land and confer resilience, via appropriate regulation, planning and management practices. target 15.3 stipulates to “combat desertifica- 1 tion, restore degraded land and soil, includ- ing land affected by desertification, drought and floods, and strive to achieve a land deg- REDUCE Reduce – Land degradation can be reduced or mitigated on agricultural radation-neutral world by 2030”. This target and forest land through application of sustainable management practices (sustainable land management, sustainable forest management). started to gain significant political momentum 2 when the 12th Conference of the Parties to the UNCCD decided to make LDN the central objective for the convention in 2015. REVERSE Reverse – Where feasible, some (but rarely all) of the productive potential and ecological services of degraded land can be restored or rehabilitated through actively assisting the recovery of ecosystem functions. WHAT IS LAND DEGRADATION 3 NEUTRALITY? Maximise conservation of natural capital Land degradation neutrality (LDN) is first of all an aspirational target. Similar to the role of the two degree target in global climate poli- Source: Scientific Conceptual Framework for Land Degradation Neutrality. cy, LDN serves as a common overarching goal A Report of the Science-Policy Interface. UNCCD, 2017. to address a global environmental problem, giving orientation to the UNCCD process and providing a joint vision for the often frag- untary national targets on reducing land degra- tion pathway is more project-oriented aiming mented strategies to address land degradation. dation and rehabilitating degraded land. So far, at the roll-out of additional programmes for Constituting benchmarks to which countries 60 countries have set LDN targets, some with sustainable land management and rehabilita- and the international community can be held rather general goals for achieving a state of no tion in degradation hotspots. Such strategies accountable for politically, targets aim to even- net loss in 2030 or at an earlier or later date and are more concrete and help to achieve tangible tually spur action. others with specific quantitative targets. For results, although they are also more limited in example, Senegal aims to annually improve 5 scope and may not address the need for poli- Secondly, LDN is a concept, defined as “a per cent of the land under degradation until cy reform. A combination of policy and proj- state whereby the amount and quality of land 2030, while Namibia has committed to reduce ect-oriented approaches is clearly best suited to resources necessary to support ecosystem func- bush encroachment on 1.9 million hectares by successfully implement LDN targets. tions […] remain stable or increase”. Thus, 2040 (see also article on pages 36–37). LDN is achieved if there is no net loss (or a Obviously, many existing programmes and gain) of land resources compared to a baseline Such ambitions may overlap with other already projects already contribute to achieving na- (e.g. 2015). Such a balance can be achieved existing ones for forest and landscape resto- tional LDN targets, particularly those working through avoiding, reducing and reversing land ration (AFR 100, 20x20 etc.) or climate action on landscape restoration, agroforestry, water- degradation. The LDN response hierarchy (Nationally Determined Contributions). The shed management, soil rehabilitation or ero- (see Figure) underlines the need to prioritise LDN target-setting programme explicitly en- sion control. They should be made visible and the avoidance of land degradation while mak- courages such linkages as they provide leverage may help to identify scalable best practices and ing use of the large areas of degraded land that for political and financial support. increase the ambitiousness of LDN targets. An holds potential for restoration. LDN target a country has set can be an oppor- tunity to advance necessary reforms of policy Thirdly, LDN is a monitoring approach that DIFFERENT PATHWAYS FOR and planning instruments as well as to foster allows for tracking progress on the implemen- IMPLEMENTING LDN the often lacking co-operation between agri- tation of LDN targets (see Box on page 35). cultural and environmental authorities. With a growing number of countries having set LDN targets, the challenge increasingly TRANSLATING A GLOBAL GOAL INTO becomes one of implementation. Bold targets PROMISING EXAMPLES AND NATIONAL AMBITIONS: LDN TARGET need to be translated into policies and projects OBSTACLES SETTING that actually improve the way land is managed on the ground. There are two main approach- Experience from countries following an LDN Based on these considerations, the UNCCD es for countries to implement LDN targets. approach is diverse. The number of countries has started a LDN target-setting programme One is policy-oriented and aims to mainstream participating in the LDN target setting pro- that aims to bring the global goal of LDN LDN into existing land use regulation. In this gramme, now including global players such down to the country level. Since its start in respect, the LDN mitigation hierarchy (avoid, as China, India and Brazil, clearly exceeds ex- 2015, 115 countries have joined the pro- reduce, reverse) can serve as a guiding principle pectations. However, the political relevance of gramme with the objective to formulate vol- for land use planning. The other implementa- LDN targets varies. While some countries of- RURAL 21 01/18 35 MONITORING LAND DEGRADATION NEUTRALITY FRAMEWORK FOR MONITORING AND REPORTING What is the status of land degradation and land rehabilitation world- SDG wide? Has it improved or worsened? Where are degradation hotspots Indicator and anticipated losses located? Where should a country plan mea- 15.3.1 Proportion of land sures to avoid, reduce, or reverse land degradation? that is degraded over total land area To answer these questions, decision-makers need spatial data. Freely available satellite imagery in combination with in-situ obser-
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