Productive land is a critical natural asset for rural communities in developing nations, providing them with a wide range of ecosystem resources, such as water, fertile soils, plant and genetic diversity – on which they depend daily for survival. For many communities, the land is also an integral part of their cultural identity, helping to maintain social cohesion and stability, in addition to building resilience to socio-ecological shocks and risks such as those caused by climate change. But land is a vulnerable resource that must be managed and restored to ensure a sustainable future.

Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are continuously under the threat from the adverse effects of climate change and land degradation impacts. Erratic climatic patterns have made daily weather previsions unreliable and are becoming a challenge for communities to take appropriate timely and preventive measures. Land degradation directly increases CO2 emissions, contributing to climate change and vice versa.

This Toolkit has been prepared to support the design and implementation of Sustainable Land Management (SLM) programs. The specific purpose of the Toolkit is: to inform the user of the approaches that can be followed to analyze and value the economic costs of land degradation and the benefits of sustainable land management. ‘Land’ is interpreted broadly in the Toolkit, also including wetlands and coastal zones. The Toolkit contains five Tools that together present a detailed description of the various relevant ecological and economic assessment methodologies.

Land has a value for each and every one of us. Fertile soil provides us with plant life, vegetables, grains, and fibres. Forests supply us with timber and firewood. We benefit from fresh water, food, and many other ecosystem services that land provides us with. Land is also emotionally valuable to people as well, perhaps through associating treasured memories such as playing on it as a child. In any case, all societies and people assign historical and cultural value to their landscapes, their nature, and all natural phenomena associated with land. However, lands are in danger.

The 2019 edition of the Land for Life Award puts the spotlight on individuals and organizations that made outstanding contributions to achieve land degradation neutrality on a large scale, with long-term changes and dedicated actions for 25 years or longer. Those remarkable projects involve local people, communities and the society, raising the level of their ambition. Meanwhile, recent assessments remind us that two billion hectares of land are now degraded worldwide. This represents an area larger than the territory of the Russian Federation, the biggest country in the world.

Many Small Island Developing States (SIDS) have committed to establishing national voluntary LDN targets. By establishing LDN targets, SIDS have defined their ambitions and key priorities to address land degradation. The LDN target setting process allowed national stakeholders to systematically analyze the causes and effects of land degradation and to come up with evidence-based decisions on what is desirable and feasible to avoid, reduce or reverse land degradation by 2030.

The desertification is described as the land degradation occurring as a result of climate change and human activities in arid, semi-arid and semi-humid areas. In today’s world, climate change, desertification, land degradation and drought are amongst the most critical issues as they affect over 4 billion hectares of land in more than 164 countries, and directly impact approximately 1.5 billion people. These hazards threaten not only the environment, but also economy, security, development, food security and social life in Turkey as well as around the globe.

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.

Land degradation and biodiversity loss are among the most pressing environmental challenges facing humanity. Land degradation has reduced the productivity of nearly one-quarter of the global land surface, impacted the wellbeing of about 3.2 billion people and cost about 10% of annual global gross domestic product in lost ecosystem services. An estimated 23% of total anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions derive from agriculture, forestry and other land uses, contributing to climate change.

Desertification, land degradation and drought affect more than 2 billion people and the situation might worsen due to the unsustainable use of soil and water under present scenarios of climate change. The UNCCD 10-year strategy points out the importance of science, knowledge sharing systems and awareness raising to support policymakers in reversing this trend. Sustainable land management practices, including sustainable agriculture, provide important local, regional and global benefits.

Numbers can tell a compelling story. In this brochure, the numbers highlight how much we rely on productive land. Amongst other valuable services, land feeds our families, provides fresh water and powers our future ambitions. Much of the data collected here, however, demonstrate how close we are to pushing our relationship with the land to breaking point. The magnitude of the challenges and potential consequences of failing to implement bold action on land and soil, in terms of future social stability and economic development, should not be underestimated.

Human activities are the principal drivers of the processes of land degradation, desertification and climate change. Though highly complex and difficult to predict, interactions between climate change and land degradation are likely to affect a range of different ecosystem functions and the services they deliver, with consequent impacts on food production, livelihoods and human well-being. Society must therefore mitigate or reverse these stresses through innovative approaches.