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Land is the foundation for all life-sustaining processes on Earth. Through its physical, chemical, and biological attributes, land underpins a wide range of ecosystem goods and services that humanity depends on for survival. These include provision of food and water that we consume; regulation of environmental risks such as fl oods and drought to which we are often vulnerable; supporting natural processes such as soil formation and nutrient cycling on which our production systems depend; and cultural services such as recreational, spiritual, and other nonmaterial benefi ts that we enjoy as a society.
Land use in agriculture, livestock production, and forestry plays an important role in global prosperity. All told, land benefi ts billions of people, including a large proportion that depends entirely on farming and forest products for their livelihood. Agricultural land makes up an estimated 40 percent of the global land surface,3 and accounts for 95 percent of all animal and plant protein, as well as 99 percent of calories consumed by people. Maintaining sustained and productive use of land is thus a global imperative.
