Global strategies to halt the dual crises of biodiversity loss and climate change are often formulated separately, even though they are interdependent and risk failure if pursued in isolation. The Global Safety Net maps how expanded nature conservation addresses both overarching threats. We identify 50% of the terrestrial realm that, if conserved, would reverse further biodiversity loss, prevent CO2 emissions from land conversion, and enhance natural carbon removal.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were conceived at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, held in Rio de Janeiro in 2012 (Rio + 20), and adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in September 2015. They are part of a larger framework, namely the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Since then, many countries round the world have been engaging in respect of their implementation. The slow progress seen in the implementation of the SDGs, is in contrast with the many negative implications of not implementing them.

Inputs of land for raw material production and fabric manufacturing. Such land use has significant implications for biodiversity—the diversity of Earth’s species, which provide critical services such as pollination, water purification, and climate regulation.

Although land use is a major driver of biodiversity loss, there is no easily applicable method for incorporating land use impacts on biodiversity into life cycle assessment (LCA)—a widelyused tool for evaluating potential environmental impacts of a product system.

Land use change is a major global driver of pandemic risk. Land usechange is a significant driver of the transmission and emergence of infectious diseases 40,177-179. Land use changeis cited as the cause of over 30% of emerging infectious diseases, and correlates significantly withthe emergence of novel zoonoses globally 13,180. However, the mechanisms by which diseases emergeare context-specific and scale-dependent.

Land is an essential building block of civilization yet its contribution to our quality of life is perceived and valued in starkly different and often incompatible ways. Conflicts about land use are intensifying in many countries. The world has reached a point where we must reconcile these differences and rethink the way in which we use and manage the land.

Through its two components: Land for Life Award and Awareness raising and Knowledge Support, the Land for Life programme will show-case and highlight how the existing local, national and regional efforts in rehabilitating and managing the land sustainably, bring multiple benefits to communities through increased land productivity, employment opportunities, greater resilience in the face of climate change and more.

As of 2017, SGP has awarded over 3,800 small grants to land degradation projects in over 120 countries, many of which are in regions with extreme levels of poverty and food insecurity across Africa and Latin America. Africa, in particular, is experiencing the highest population growth of the developing world, while being exposed and vulnerable to the rising impact from climate change.

Land provides crucial ecosystem services for human existence and human well-being, including provisioning, regulating, supporting and cultural services. Those services provide among others the production of fresh air, food, feed, fuel and fibre. They regulate the risks of natural hazards and climate change, offer cultural and spiritual values to our society, and support key ecological functions such as nutrient and water cycling, filtering and buffering, and are central to economic vitality.

En los últimos años, la Chiquitanía, Chaco y la Amazonia han experimentado recurrentes eventos climáticos adversos, pero también, los territorios campesinos e indígenas están fuertemente presionados por el avance del modelo agroindustrial. Bolivia, actualmente presenta las mayores tasas de deforestación y cambio de uso de los suelos de la región, por la ampliación de la frontera agropecuaria (monocultivo oleaginosas y ganadería extensiva).