Almost one-quarter of the world’s land area has been degraded over the past 50 years because of soil erosion, salinization, peatland and wetland drainage, and forest degradation. The resulting damage, in terms of lost ecosystem goods and services, costs the world an estimated US$6.3 trillion a year. Almost a quarter of the world’s land area has been degraded over the past 50 years.
Why is it so important to restore degraded landscapes? It’s actually very simple.
The Great Green Wall is one of the main vehicles for delivering the Sustainable Development Goals and the Rio conventions in the Sahel. Biodiversity is the foundation of the Great Green Wall in many ways, determining soil productivity and water cycles and providing the foundation for risk management and resilient ecosystems.
Landscape governance relates to how rules and decision-making address overlapping claims and conflicting interests in the landscape. It also relates to how rules and decision-making encourage synergies among stakeholders and stimulate the sustainable management of the landscape.
Becoming land degradation neutral is not simply about restoring degraded lands. It is about self interest making sure the land can still provide food and fresh water for us, our children, and to the third and fourth generations. It is about giving every child, from Mongolia to Afghanistan and from Ethiopia to China, the fighting chance for a better life.
The authors briefly review how microbial biotechnology can contribute to improve activities aiming to restore degraded drylands and to combat their desertification, which are an integral part of the Sustainable Development Goal 15 of the 2030 Agenda.
In the last decade, there have been a number of global/regional targets and initiatives to halt and reverse land degradation and restore degraded land.
UNDP’s support to countries on sustainable land management and restoration is designed to enhance livelihoods, secure food and water, build resilience and increase carbon storage and sequestration.
The pressure on land is growing in many regions of the world, due to the increasing demand for arable crops, meat and dairy products, bio-energy and timber, and is exacerbated by land degradation and climate change.
Funding from the voluntary carbon market (VCM) can help to restore productive landscapes, if it is embedded in the local context of traditions and in state governance systems. Restoration efforts under a performance-based VCM programme, if planned well, can also improve livelihoods.
Durant son enfance, Cécile Bibiane Ndjebet, qui a grandi dans une région reculée du Cameroun, avait une conscience aiguë des difficultés auxquelles les femmes rurales faisaient face. Elle voyait sa mère et d'autres femmes travailler de l'aube au crépuscule, pour s'occuper de la terre, des animaux et élever les enfants. Beaucoup d'entre elles effectuaient un travail éreintant sur des terres qu'elles ne pourraient jamais posséder en raison des pratiques socioculturelles traditionnelles.
