As representatives of over 200 member states gather for the Conference of Parties (COP16) to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) in Riyadh, an emergency agenda awaits them: arresting land degradation that has reached unsustainable levels.
On December 1, a day before COP16 starts, UNCCD and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research released a special report titled Stepping back from the precipice: Transforming land management to stay within planetary boundaries.
The analysis warned that land degradation has now crossed a threshold. “Land degradation undermining Earth’s capacity to sustain humanity,” it said, urging an immediate call to action for curbing degradation.
“Deforestation, urbanization and unsustainable farming are causing global land degradation at an unprecedented scale, threatening not only different Earth system components but human survival itself,” the report said.
Land degradation impacts 15 million sq km of the planet. This is more than the area of Antarctica or almost equal to the size of the Russian Federation. Population-wise, most of the world’s poor reside in areas impacted by degradation. UNCCD data suggests some 1.2 billion people are affected by land degradation.
Even more worryingly, the UNCCD report estimated that “the global area impacted by land degradation is expanding each year by about 1 million km².”
Land-system is one of the nine planetary boundaries that set a threshold level beyond which there would be catastrophic environmental impacts and its reversal could be difficult. Maintaining these boundaries effectively means a stable planetary system. “The aim of the planetary boundaries framework is to provide a measure for achieving human wellbeing within Earth’s ecological limits,” says Johan Rockström, who introduced the concept in 2009. Recent assessments say that six of these boundaries have already been breached.
The land-system planetary boundary is widely believed to have been breached since 1990. The key benchmark for gauging the land-system boundary is land use; and for this, the key indicator is forest cover of the planet. Ideally, maintaining 75 per cent of the original forest cover is estimated to keep us within this particular planetary boundary. But currently, we have been just left with 60 per cent of the planet’s original forest areas (before human intervention periods).
Breaching the land-system boundary has ramifications on other such ones. This is because land is “a central aspect in seven of the nine planetary boundaries: land-system change, climate change, change in biosphere integrity, freshwater change, biogeochemical flows, novel entities and atmospheric aerosol loading.”
“Unabated land degradation will directly or indirectly lead to further pressure on these planetary boundaries, whereas sustainable land management can lead to greater systems resilience,” the UNCCD report noted.
Land degradation has primarily been attributed to agriculture. “Conventional agriculture is the leading culprit of land degradation, contributing to deforestation, soil erosion and pollution. Unsustainable irrigation practices deplete freshwater resources, while excessive use of nitrogen- and phosphorus-based fertilizers destabilizes ecosystems,” the analysis added. Close to 90 per cent of direct deforestation has been caused by cropland expansion.
“If we fail to acknowledge the pivotal role of land and take appropriate action, the consequences will ripple through every aspect of life and extend well into the future, intensifying difficulties for future generations,” said UNCCD Executive Secretary, Ibrahim Thiaw.