Agriculture influences and shapes the world’s ecosystems, but not always in a positive way. More than 2.5 billion people are globally involved as stewards of land and water ecosystems that constitute the natural resource base for feeding the current and future world population. Yet, conventional agronomic interventions based on ‘hard’ agricultural engineering compromise various eco-services that are required for sustainable agricultural development.

Land degradation is becoming a serious environmental issue threatening fertile agricultural soils and other natural resources. There are many driving forces behind land degradation. The expansion of artificial surfaces due to various economic activities, such as housing, industry, and transport infrastructure, known as soil sealing, constitutes one of the most intensive forms of land degradation in urban regions. Measures to halt and reverse land degradation require both strong land-use management policies, as well as effective spatial planning mechanisms.

Soil is a non-renewable resource that requires constant monitoring to prevent its degradation and promote its sustainable management. The ‘Land Use/Cover Area frame statistical Survey Soil’ (LUCAS Soil) is an extensive and regular topsoil survey that is carried out across the European Union to derive policy-relevant statistics on the effect of land management on soil characteristics. Approximately 45 000 soil samples have been collected from two time-periods, 2009–2012 and 2015. A new sampling series will be undertaken in 2018, with new measurements included.

For the African continent, the ability to manage trade-offs at a landscape scale has huge potential to influence the future of migration and conflict, as well as the future of land resources, food security and biodiversity. Integrated land management can act as an accelerator for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and can be considered an essential element of a sustainable strategy to address the root causes of irregular migration.

In the effort to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) related to food, health, water, and climate, an increase in pressure on land is highly likely. To avoid further land degradation and promote land restoration, multifunctional use of land is needed within the boundaries of the soil-water system. In addition, awareness-raising, a change in stakeholders’ attitudes, and a change in economics are essential. The attainment of a balance between the economy, society, and the biosphere calls for a holistic approach.

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.

Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target 15.3 commits countries to strive towards land degradation neutrality (LDN) by 2030. LDN requires reductions in land quality to be balanced by efforts to restore or rehabilitate degraded areas. However, decisions need to be made as to where to invest given limited budgets and the impossibility of targeting all degraded land. Any prioritisation process is likely to be controversial and needs to be underpinned by transparent, justifiable, repeatable decision processes.

As one of the few remaining countries with a robust, nomadic pastoral culture supported by extensive natural rangelands, Mongolia is well positioned to offer sustainable, rangeland-based goods and services to its citizens and to global consumers who place a premium on sustainable products. The primary challenge to sustainable livestock production in Mongolia is that rangeland health, the set of environmental conditions that sustain the productivity and biodiversity of rangelands is in decline in many areas.

Настоящие “Добровольные руководящие принципы рационального использования почвенных ресурсов” (ДРПРИПР) были выработаны в ходе подразумевающего широкое участие процесса в рамках Глобального почвенного партнерства (ГПП). Они должны стать справочным документом, содержащим общие технические и политические рекомендации в области рационального использования почвенных ресурсов (РИПР) для широкого круга приверженных своему делу заинтересованных сторон.

In order to celebrate the International Mountain Day and advocate for the importance of sustainable mountain development, the attached infographic will be used as a communication tool that showcases in a nutshell some of the most important facts and figure concerning mountains, their ecosystems and their communities. The infographic will highlight the IMD 2018 theme “Mountains matter” through relevant data on biodiversity, population, food insecurity, disasters etc as well as provide recommendations.

وُيعت اسطوط التوجيهية الطوعية للإدارة المستدامة للتربة من خلال عملية شاملة في إطار الشراكة العالمية من أجل التربة. وهي تهدف إلى أن تكون مرجعاً يوفّر توايات فنية وسياساتية عامة بشأن الإدارة المستدامة للتربةة لطائفةة واسةةعة مةةن أاةةحاب المصةةلحة الملتةةزم . واعتمةةدت الجمعيةةة العامةةة الرابعةةة للشةةراكة العالميةةة مةةن أجةةل التربةةة )روما، 25 مايوحأيار 2016 ( اسطوط التوجيهية، ووافقت عليها لجنة الزراعة لمنظمة الأغذية والزراعة في دورتهةا ) --( )روما، --(، وأقرينها أخ اً مجلس المنظمة في دورتلخ )--( )روما، --(.

Uganda has been monitoring its forest resources through mapping and forest inventories since the 1990s. However, the approach and frequency of data generation needs to be improved if the country is to construct a reference level compliant with the principles of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Efforts were also needed to assess forest cover change in the country.