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| Land Degradation Neutrality | |
|---|---|
| Name | Land Degradation Neutrality |
| Abbreviation | LDN |
| Formation | 2015 |
| Founded by | United Nations United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification Sustainable Development Goals |
| Type | international target / policy concept |
| Purpose | prevent, halt and reverse land degradation |
| Region served | global |
Land Degradation Neutrality is an international policy target and management concept established to balance losses of healthy land with measures that restore degraded areas, aiming to achieve no net loss in land productivity and ecosystem function. It links multilateral initiatives, national strategies, and local interventions to global frameworks addressing climate change, biodiversity loss, and sustainable development. The concept translates into actionable targets, indicators, and reporting mechanisms used by states, agencies, and NGOs to align land stewardship with transnational commitments.
Land Degradation Neutrality frames a goal to balance land degradation by avoiding, reducing and reversing loss through restoration and sustainable management. It is articulated in relation to Sustainable Development Goal 15, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification target setting, and commitments made under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Convention on Biological Diversity. Core objectives include maintaining or improving land-based ecosystem services, enhancing agricultural productivity, supporting food security initiatives linked to World Food Programme planning, and contributing to Paris Agreement mitigation and adaptation co-benefits. The approach emphasizes measurable outcomes tied to national action plans such as Nationally Determined Contributions submitted to the UNFCCC COP.
The LDN concept emerged from policy dialogues among the United Nations agencies and parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification culminating in formal adoption within the Sustainable Development Goals in 2015. Early influences include scientific assessments by the IPBES, reports from the IPCC, and initiatives by the Global Environment Facility and World Bank. Negotiations at forums such as UNCCD Conferences of Parties brought input from national delegations including Kenya, China, Brazil, Australia, and India. International financing mechanisms—through the Green Climate Fund, Global Environment Facility, and bilateral development partners like USAID and DFID—helped operationalize pilot programs and national LDN targets.
LDN measurement combines biophysical and socio-economic indicators to quantify baseline conditions and trends. Scientific methods draw on satellite remote sensing programs such as Landsat, MODIS, and Sentinel missions, ecological metrics developed by IPBES and the IPCC, and productivity models used by research institutions like the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis and CIFOR. Indicators include changes in land productivity, soil organic carbon stocks, and land cover/use transitions documented by agencies such as the FAO and the European Space Agency. National reporting often uses tools created by the UNCCD Science-Policy Interface and technical guidance from the Global Land Outlook. Measurement challenges engage experts from universities including Oxford University, Wageningen University, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Practical implementation combines policy instruments, on-the-ground restoration, and sustainable land management practices. Strategies include reforestation and afforestation initiatives aligned with Bonn Challenge pledges, agroforestry models promoted by ICRAF, soil conservation techniques advanced by FAO projects, and payments for ecosystem services schemes financed by entities like the Green Climate Fund and World Bank. Integration with agricultural extension networks, private sector actors such as Syngenta or Unilever in supply-chain restoration projects, and community-based programs led by organizations like WWF and Conservation International are common. National land-use planning instruments coordinate with ministries represented in multilateral agreements such as UNFCCC NDCs and CBD national biodiversity strategies.
LDN engages a wide array of stakeholders: national governments, subnational authorities, indigenous peoples and local communities, research institutions, multilateral organizations, bilateral donors, philanthropic foundations like the Rockefeller Foundation, and private corporations. Institutional arrangements range from UNCCD national focal points coordinating with Ministry of Environment or equivalent agencies, to donor-led consortia such as partnerships between the Global Environment Facility and development banks like the Asian Development Bank. Civil society organizations including Oxfam, IUCN, and community groups play roles in implementation, while academic consortia provide monitoring support through collaborations with agencies like NASA and ESA.
Critiques of the LDN approach address measurement uncertainty, trade-offs between restoration and conservation, and equity concerns. Scholars and advocacy groups such as Friends of the Earth note risks of commodification where carbon financing and private investment displace local land users or incentivize monoculture plantations over biodiversity outcomes—a concern also raised in analyses by Greenpeace. Technical criticisms point to satellite-based metrics’ limits in detecting soil degradation and sub-surface processes, discussed in literature from IPCC assessments and research centers like CIFOR. Political challenges include aligning LDN targets with competing national priorities, securing long-term finance from institutions like the Green Climate Fund, and ensuring transparent governance upheld by treaty bodies including the UNCCD.
National and subnational case studies demonstrate mixed results: successes include restoration projects under the Bonn Challenge in Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Costa Rica that improved productivity and livelihoods, and integrated watershed rehabilitation in China’s Loess Plateau that combined science from Chinese Academy of Sciences with implementation financing. Conversely, contested outcomes in some programs funded by international investors revealed social conflicts in regions of Madagascar and parts of Latin America, prompting reviews by institutions like the World Bank and NGOs including Amnesty International. Monitoring syntheses by UNCCD and FAO report incremental progress toward global targets while emphasizing continued needs for data, finance, and inclusive governance.
Category:Environmental policy