In Sub-Saharan Africa, the popular perception of rangelands and their management is that these vast areas have major problems without solutions: the common narrative focuses on overgrazing, herds of undernourished livestock, erosion and desertification, drought, famine, and conflict.

However, evidence compiled and analysed in this book show that such a view of rangelands – as being unproductive and mismanaged systems – does not reflect reality. It needs reconsideration and revision.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published its Climate Change and Land: An IPCC Special Report on climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems in 2019 (www.ipcc.ch/srccl). We refer to the IPCC’s report in short here as the Special Report on Climate Change and Land. The Special Report was a response to proposals from governments and observer organisations to the IPCC.

Vast swathes of land, from Africa to the Middle East, are being left useless by climate shifts and human pressures such as deforestation, mining and farming, threatening to hike migration and conflict. The accelerating damage could cost the global economy a staggering $23 trillion by 2050 - and rich countries as well as poor will pay the price.

Interview with Ibrahim Thiaw

With only 7 percent of agricultural land, Tajikistan is a mountainous country located at the heart of Central Asian region, prone to desertification, salinization, soil erosion and forest loss. The first step to address the issue is to measure the real cost of degradation of the agricultural land. The full costs of land degradation are believed to be high and increasing but they are also difficult to measure.

Kenya Land Alliance (KLA) in partnership with Indigenous Livelihoods Enhancement Partners (ILEPA) and through the support of the Global Green Grants is implementing a project on Climate change, Livelihoods, and energy targeted at Women and Youth in Narok County.

Deforestation, land degradation, and unsustainable land management threaten our lives and are responsible, both directly and indirectly, for many economic, social and environmental issues. In particular, countries in Northeast Asia face the growing threats of desertification, land degradation and drought (DLDD). In China, it is estimated that “more than 40 per cent of Chinese arable land is degraded” (China Daily 2014). “The annual cost of land degradation in Mongolia is estimated at 2.1 billion United States dollars (USD)” (UNCCD, 2018).

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.

UNCCD Decision 26 / COP.14 Land tenure

David Barrio - Oficial de Asuntos Económicos de la División de Desarrollo Sostenible y Asentamientos Humanos de la Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL) habla sobre el ODS 15. La desertificación y la deforestación son dos grandes retos para el desarrollo sostenible de la región, pues la pérdida o daño a los recursos naturales supone graves consecuencias ambientales y económicas.

Positioning land tenure within LDN: framework, implementation model and monitoring. In order to position tenure rights within the LDN approach, this article first proposes how land tenure, viewed as sets of tools, can be specifically integrated into the LDN framework (Figure 1), implementation model (Figure 2), and monitoring approach (Figure 3). These three figures build upon the schematics established by UNCCD for LDN (UNCCD, 2016a; 2014; 2013b) and used subsequently in examinations regarding how LDN intersects with the variety of topics noted above.

Le Tchad est considéré comme le pays le plus vulnérable au changement climatique. Une combinaison de pauvreté élevée, de conflits fréquents, de systèmes de gouvernance faibles, à laquelle s’ajoutent les risques de sécheresse et d’inondations, font que le pays est confronté à de nombreuses urgences humanitaires et lutte notamment pour faire face aux onséquences du changement climatique. Le pays connaît des conflits internes et frontaliers récurrents qui aggravent encore davantage ses vulnérabilités, en mettant sous pression les infrastructures limitées et la cohésion sociale.

This document describes combating desertification through the use of unconventional water resources.