UNCCD
PRESS RELEASE
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At least 100 million hectares of
healthy land now lost each
year
-
New UN data
warns land is degrading faster than we can
restore it
-
Land degradation
accelerates across Africa, Asia and Latin
America
-
Global progress
towards ending land loss to be reviewed next
month in
Uzbekistan
Bonn, 24 October
2023 – The UN Convention to Combat
Desertification (UNCCD) announces the launch of
its first-ever Data Dashboard compiling national
reporting figures from 126 countries, which shows
that land degradation is advancing at an
astonishing rate across all
regions.
Between 2015 and 2019, the
world lost at least 100 million hectares of
healthy and productive land each year, adding up
to twice the size of Greenland. These statistics
underscore the need for urgent action, as
escalating land degradation continues to
destabilize markets, communities, and ecosystems
around the globe.
The UNCCD Data Dashboard
launch comes at a critical juncture as world
leaders and experts will soon gather in Samarkand,
Uzbekistan, from 13-17 November 2023 for the 21st
session of the UNCCD Committee for the Review of
the Implementation of the Convention (CRIC 21).
Delegates will review global progress made toward
land degradation neutrality (LDN) and confront
pressing issues like enhancing drought resilience,
promoting women's land rights, and combating sand
and dust storms.
UNCCD Executive Secretary
Ibrahim Thiaw said: “The first-ever UNCCD Data
Dashboard offers an eye-opening insight into rapid
loss of healthy and productive land around the
world, with dire consequences for billions of
people. At the same time, we are seeing some
‘brightspots’—countries effectively tackling
desertification, land degradation and drought. As
we gather in Uzbekistan next month to review
global progress towards ending land loss, the
message is clear: land degradation demands
immediate attention.”
Regional
disparities
The UNCCD Data Dashboard
reflects an alarming reality across the globe and
reveals significant disparities when it comes to
the proportion of degraded land per
region.
Eastern and Central Asia,
and Latin America and the Caribbean regions
experience the most severe degradation, affecting
at least 20 per cent of their total land
area.
Meanwhile, sub-Saharan
Africa, Western and Southern Asia, and Latin
America and the Caribbean experienced land
degradation at rates faster than the global
average.
Notably, in sub-Saharan
Africa and in Latin America and the Caribbean, 163
million hectares and 108 million hectares,
respectively, have succumbed to land degradation
since 2015.
Land restoration
“brightspots”
Despite a bleak global
picture, there are examples of countries
effectively tackling desertification, land
degradation and
drought.
In sub-Saharan Africa,
Botswana reduced land degradation from 36 per cent
to 17 per cent of its territory. The country has
committed a total of 45.3 million hectares to land
degradation neutrality, including both measures to
avoid further degradation as well as restoration
interventions in selected land degradation
hotspots. Botswana also reported 1.42 million
hectares as “brightspot” areas, or areas that have
been rehabilitated by implementing appropriate
remediation
activities.
In the Dominican Republic,
the proportion of degraded land has decreased from
49 per cent to 31per cent between 2015 and 2019,
with ongoing efforts to restore 240 000 hectares
in the Yaque del Norte River basin and in cocoa
production areas in San Franscisco de Macoris
province.
While Uzbekistan reported
the highest proportion of degraded land (26.1 per
cent) in the Central Asia region, it also saw the
largest decrease – from 30 per cent to 26 per cent
-- compared to 2015. A total of 3 million hectares
of land in Uzbekistan have been degraded due to
the drying of the Aral Sea. Between 2018-2022,
Uzbekistan carried out saxaul planting on an area
of 1.6 million ha to eliminate salt and dust
emissions from the drained bottom of the Aral
Sea.
Land degradation
neutrality goal still within
reach
Although land degradation
trends vary by region, UNCCD data warns that, if
current trends persist, the world will need to
restore a staggering 1.5 billion hectares of
degraded land by 2030 to reach LDN targets
enshrined in the Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs).
Barron Orr, UNCCD Chief
Scientist, said: “Although global trends are
going in the wrong direction, it is still possible
to not only meet but exceed land degradation
neutrality goals. This can be done by stopping
further degradation while accelerating efforts on
existing commitments to restore one billion
hectares of land by 2030 with funding and action
hand-in-hand.”
In a promising commitment
towards building a more resilient future, 109
countries have set voluntary LDN targets for 2030,
with another 21 in the process of doing so.
Between 2016 and 2019, approximately USD$ 5
billion in bilateral and multilateral sources
flowed into global efforts to combat
desertification, land degradation and drought.
This helped 124 nations roll out a wide range of
projects aimed at achieving land degradation
neutrality and addressing the challenges posed by
desertification, land degradation, and
drought.
Notes to
editors
For interviews and
enquires please contact: pr...@unccd.int and/or un...@portland-communications.com
To access the UNCCD’s Data
Dashboard please click here: https://data.unccd.int/
For any enquires on data
and methodology, please write to repo...@unccd.int.
The data is compiled in
global and aggregate form "as received" from 126
Parties in their 2022 UNCCD national reports.
Therefore, the facts present a partial estimate of
progress at the global and regional level, in
terms of the status and trends in these
indicators/metrics, as not all Parties have
reported all indicators. The information presented
should in no way be interpreted as a comprehensive
global or regional assessment of status and trends
in the indicators/metrics.
More information about the
21st session of the UNCCD Committee on the Review
of the Implementation of the Convention (CRIC21):
https://www.unccd.int/cric21
Accredited media
representatives are invited to attend and report
on CRIC21 and associated events. Field visits
where journalists can see land restoration and
drought resilience projects will take place
immediately prior to
CRIC21.
Online registration for
media representatives is available at the
following link: www.unccd.int/cric-21-online-registration.
About
UNCCD
The United Nations
Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) is
the global vision and voice for land. We unite
governments, scientists, policymakers, private
sector and communities around a shared vision and
global action to restore and manage the world’s
land for the sustainability of humanity and the
planet. Much more than an international treaty
signed by 197 parties, UNCCD is a multilateral
commitment to mitigating today’s impacts of land
degradation and advancing tomorrow’s land
stewardship in order to provide food, water,
shelter and economic opportunity to all people in
an equitable and inclusive
manner.
