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Agriculture, biodiversity loss, climate change, enabling environment, environmental footprint, evidence-based policies, fair shares, investments, land, land degradation, land restoration, land use, planetary boundaries, Rio conventions, sustainable development, sustainable land management, transformative actions
Abstract:
Land is a central part of the Earth system and holds global importance due to its role in sustaining and connecting various environmental processes. It regulates the climate, water flow and nutrient cycling, provides habitats, and forms the foundation for agricultural production and thus food security. Additionally, land is vital for economic development, shelter and cultural identity. However, human activities such as unsustainable agricultural practices, deforestation and urbanisation are driving land degradation worldwide, jeopardizing these essential functions. This special report synthesizes existing research and assessments on land degradation and land management through the lens of the planetary boundaries framework. Seven of the nine planetary boundaries are substantially affected by human land use and are therefore referred to as the land-based planetary boundaries, six of which have already been crossed. The report shows that land is central to human and environmental wellbeing, and emphasizes that current trends are unsustainable and can be reversed through transformative actions. These actions require considerations of fairness and justice, while leveraging enabling factors such as evidence-based policies and sustained investments. The report concludes by outlining a roadmap for future research on modelling and empirically assessing the links and feedbacks between land and the planetary boundaries.
