United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification

DLDD = Desertification Land Degradation & Drought

Luc GNACADJAExecutive Secretary

Launch of UNCCD Policy Brief

Berlin, Germany23 May 2012

Zero netland degradation -a SDG forRio+20

DLDD*and

Sustainable

Development

Deforestation: 70 to 80 % of expansion of cropland expansion lead to deforestation

What implications for2030: Cropland expansion for food, feed and fuel demand 175 to 220 million ha ?

SustainableDevelopment

Land/Soil

Poverty Food security

EnergyWater

70% rural

80% hunger rural

+50% in 2030+ 120 million ha

Water in Agric 70%

in 2030 +40%

in 2030 +40%

For Agricult-Forests Biodiv-Settlements &

Infrastructure

Status & Trends in Global Land DegradationSource: SOLAW 2011 - FAO

In too many places, achievements in production have been associated with management practices that have degraded the land and water

Biodiversity lossClimate Change

DLDD: Some facts & figures

More than 50% of agricultural moderately to severely degraded

LD directly affects 1,5 billion people globally

75 billion tons of fertile soil disappear/year

12 million ha/Year lost due to drought and desertification

Six million km2 of drylands bear a legacy of desertification

Biodiversity: 27,000 species lost each year due to LD

70 to 80 % of expansion of cropland lead to deforestation

Water Food Energy

Land/Soil

Forest

?Sustainable

Development

DLDD

Extreme Poverty

Increasedto Drought

& Water stress

Food insecurity &

Hunger

Biodiversity Loss

Increased emissions of

GHG

MigrationsInstability & Crises

Deforestation

DLDD has far-reaching impacts

Drought potential worldwide 2000-2098

Source : University Corporation for Atmospheric Research - http://www2.ucar.edu/news/2904/climate-change-drought-may-threaten-much-globe-within-decades

United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification

DLDD = Desertification Land Degradation & Drought

Drying up The FutureWe Want

DLDD*

U N C C DClimate change will depress agricultural yields in most countries by 2050 given current agricultural practices and

crop varieties

Source: Müller and others 2009. in WDR 2010, Page 145Note: The figure shows the projected percentage change in yields of 11 major crops (wheat, rice, maize, millet, field pea, sugar beet, sweet potato, soybean, groundnut, sunflower, and rapeseed) from 2046 to 2055, compared with 1996–2005. The values are the mean of three emission scenarios across five global climate models, assuming no CO2 fertilization (see note 54). Large negative yield impacts are projected in many areas that are highly dependent on agriculture

Changes in agricultural productivity by 2050 due to Climate change

DLDD & Climate Change

The % of Earth’s land area stricken by serious drought has more than doubled from the 1970s to the early 2000s

Climate change will depress agricultural yields by up to 15-50% in most countries by 2050, given current agricultural practices and crop varieties

Agriculture worldwide accounts for around 15% of global greenhouse gas emissions. The related deforestation contributes about 11%

“Improved management of the world’s land (including terrestrial carbon) represents one third of the overall global abatement potential in 2030 (and a half in 2020)1. It represents 7Gt CO2e of mitigation in developing countries in 2020, roughly 40% of the 17Gt CO2e of mitigation required globally”

No Carbon neutrality without Land degradation neutrality

Source: World Resources Institute, South Dakota State University, the IUCN and the Global Partnership on Forest Landscape Restoration - http://www.wri.org/map/global-map-forest-landscape-restoration-opportunities

Type 1 – High degradation trend or highly degraded lands: 25%

Rehabilitate if economically feasible; mitigate where degrading trends are high

Type 2 – Moderate degradation trend in slightly or moderately degraded land: 8%

Introduce measure to mitigate degradation

Type 3 – Stable land, slightly or moderately degraded: 36%

Preventive interventions

Type 4 – Improving lands: 10% Reinforcement of enabling conditions which foster SLM

Intervention Options forZNLD

Source FAO SOLAW 2011

U N C C D

The Economics of Land Degradation

Cost of Action Vs Inaction

Imp

rovin

g

Eco

syste

ms

Imp

rovin

g L

ivelih

oods

Water

Biodiversity loss

Food

Climate Change

Energy

Land Degradation

Neutral World

DLDD

SLM

Land/Soil

Forest GenderMigration

Efficiency ResilienceInclusiveness

For a SDG on Land @ Rio + 20

Sustainable land use for all and by all (in agriculture, forestry, energy,

urbanization

Targets:• ZNLD by 2030• ZNFD by 2030• Drought

preparedness in all droughts prone countries by 2020

Reversing Land Degradation

Poverty eradication

Improving livelihood through pro-poor

policies on Sustainable Land & Water Management

Drought & Water stressImproving water

availability & quality through sustainable

land & water management

Food SecurityPreserving the

resource base for food security – Land productivity/Soil

fertility improvement at the core of all long

term strategies

BiodiversityBiodiversity

conservation through improvement of land

ecosystems’ conditions

Climate changeLand is a win-win

context for adaptation, mitigation & resilience building

Bio EnergiesOpportunities for Bio

energies through biomass production

Avoided Deforestation

Sust. Land Management & Restoration of

degraded Lands as an alternative to Deforestation

Avoiding Forced Migrations

Changing the DAM paradigm

“Degrade-Abandon-Migrate”

LD Neutrality

Thank you