June 17th 2022- Today marks #DesertificationAndDroughtDay and to highlight the occasion, the Land Portal, FAO and the UNCCD have come together to launch two new products; a portfolio and podcast, delving into the important relationship between land tenure and Land Degradation Neutrality.
According to SOLAW 21, a staggering 34% of agriculture land worldwide is degraded. Land Degradation Neutrality is defined as “a state whereby the amount and quality of land resources necessary to support ecosystem functions and services to enhance food security remain stable, or increase, within specified temporal and spatial scales and ecosystems.” Findings show how secure tenure rights encourage landholders and users to invest in and commit to sustainable activities, such as soil conservation, drainage, terracing, or agroforestry, for example.
It is clear that the responsible governance of tenure is closely intertwined with achieving and enabling Land Degradation Neutrality. "Our work with the UNCCD and FAO to elevate awareness on the nexus between land tenure and Land Degradation Neutrality has been an exciting and fruitful process. The podcast and portfolio on the subject matter provides listeners and readers alike with an opportunity to delve into not only why Land Degradation Neutrality matters, but why we should be playing close attention to the interplay between land tenure and land degradation.” says Laura Meggiolaro, Team Leader at the Land Portal.
The above- mentioned podcast and portfolio, a joint venture of all three organizations, can be found here:
- Listen to the third episode of the LandUP! podcast
- Read the portfolio on land tenure and land degradation
Image by: IFRC, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
This episode of LandUP! addresses an emerging body of work on the nexus between land tenure and land degradation neutrality.
One third of the world’s soils - including farmland, forests, rangelands, and urban land - are already degraded and it is estimated that this number could rise to almost 90% by 2050. Land Degradation occurs naturally, but research shows that land degradation is increasingly caused directly or indirectly by unsustainable human activities, notably deforestation, overgrazing, mining or intensive agriculture. This has driven biodiversity loss, desertification, and led to a significant increase in greenhouse gas emissions.