• India is working towards restoring 2.6 crore hectares of degraded land by 2030 and is assisting fellow developing countries to develop land-restoration strategies, PM Narendra Modi said at a high-level UN dialogue.

• In India, over the last 10 years, around 30 lakh hectares of forest cover has been added. This has enhanced the combined forest cover to almost one-fourth of the country's total area, he said.

• This would contribute to India’s commitment to achieve an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.

• The PM made these remarks in his virtual address at the UN ‘High-Level Dialogue on Desertification, Land Degradation and Drought’ at the United Nations.

What is land degradation?

• Land degradation is caused by multiple forces, including extreme weather conditions, particularly drought. It is also caused by human activities that pollute or degrade the quality of soils and land utility. 

• It negatively affects food production, livelihoods, and the production and provision of other ecosystem goods and services. 

• Desertification is a form of land degradation by which fertile land becomes desert.

Impact of land degradation

• Productive land is a cornerstone to global food security and environmental health, zero hunger, poverty eradication, and energy for all. It underpins the success of the entire 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. 

• Globally, one fifth of Earth’s land area – more than 2 billion hectares – is degraded, including more than half of all agricultural land. 

• Each year, more than 12 million hectares of land are lost to desertification, land degradation and drought (DLDD). Approximately 95 per cent of our calories from food come from soil, yet topsoil erosion has accelerated by tenfold due to human activity. 

• The world loses 24 billion tonnes of fertile soil annually due to dryland degradation, with significant negative impacts on food production and economic activity.

• Land degradation currently undermines the well-being of 3.2 billion people, more than 40 per cent of the entire world population, driving species to extinction and intensifying climate change. 

• The Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) estimates that over 70 per cent of all natural, ice-free land has been transformed by human activity, devastating global biodiversity. 

• IPBES further warns that this could rise to 90 per cent by 2050 if global land use patterns continue unabated. Food, feed, and fibre also contribute significantly to climate change, with around a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions coming from agriculture, forestry and other land uses. 

• Climate change further exacerbates, and is worsened by, unsustainable land-use and land-use changes, with many regions becoming drier, suffering more frequent and prolonged droughts. 

• Droughts and climate change are intensifying the incidence of wildfires which now rage for longer and expand farther than ever before, having devastated roughly 30 million acres of land in the global north and south from 2018-2020 alone, causing significant losses in livelihoods, health and biodiversity, destroying ecosystems and billions of animals.

• In addition, climate-induced land degradation and water-stress are anticipated to lead to the loss of more arable land in the coming years, plunging millions of farmers into poverty and contributing to forced migration and conflict. 

• If not addressed, by 2025, two-thirds of the world will be living under “water-stressed” conditions – when demand outstrips supply during certain periods – with 1.8 billion people experiencing absolute water scarcity. 

• Similarly, migration is likely to increase as a result of desertification, with estimates that it will be responsible for the displacement of some 135 million people by 2045.

• Furthermore, unsustainable land-use change, including deforestation, is the primary transmission pathway for emerging infectious diseases, and the rate of land conversion is accelerating. 

• COVID-19, much like HIV/AIDS, Zika or Ebola, is amongst the 60 per cent of infectious diseases considered zoonotic, originating from animal populations under severe environmental pressure. 

• The link between land degradation, ecosystem destruction and zoonoses’ emergence is well documented.

• Combating desertification, land degradation and drought, and achieving land degradation neutrality, are a pathway to accelerate achieving the Sustainable Development Goals that will contribute to safeguarding livelihoods, preventing and preparing for future pandemics, and building back better from COVID-19.

The way ahead

• Ensuring the food security of our planet’s projected 9.7 billion global population by 2050, while simultaneously implementing the Paris Agreement, will be impossible without tackling land degradation and enacting food system reform. 

Some of the most promising pathways to do so are:

• Include upscaling Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) initiatives within the framework of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and COVID-19 recoveries.

• Formalising and respecting land tenure rights for large and small-scale producers, including female farmers, who are responsible for between 60-80 per cent of food production in developing countries.

• Combating drought and forest fires, including through reforestation and forest management practices.

• Supporting the UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030, which will build upon the impacts of the UN Decade for Deserts and the Fight against Desertification.

• The inclusion of a specific target under SDG 15 (‘Life on Land’), to achieve land degradation neutrality by 2030, reflects the commitment of the international community to make tangible progress on land restoration and reversing land degradation. 

• At present, over 120 countries have committed to setting voluntary targets to achieve land degradation neutrality, and many have secured high-level government commitments to achieve LDN. 

• The urgent adoption and implementation of LDN targets by all countries is necessary in order to sustainably secure land’s vital resources for generations to come and accelerate the entire 2030 agenda.

India’s Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) target 

• The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) adopted Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) as the principle target of the Convention at COP12, in October 2015. 

• This project supports countries to establish national voluntary targets for LDN as a means to sustainably increase food security, reduce biodiversity losses, and contribute to climate change adaptation and mitigation.

• Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) has been defined by the Parties to the Convention as:

A state whereby the amount and quality of land resources, necessary to support ecosystem functions and services and enhance food security, remains stable or increases within specified temporal and spatial scales and ecosystems.

• In 2019, at the 14th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), PM Modi announced that India will restore 2.6 crore hectares of degraded land by 2030.

• During the UN ‘High-Level Dialogue on Desertification, Land Degradation and Drought’, Modi said that we are on track to achieve national commitment of land degradation neutrality. 

• Pointing out that in many parts of India, novel approaches have been taken up, PM Modi cited the example of Banni region in Rann of Kutch in Gujarat which suffers from highly degraded land and receives very little rainfall.

• In the Banni region, land restoration was done by developing grasslands, which helps in achieving land degradation neutrality. It also supports pastoral activities and livelihood by promoting animal husbandry.

• Modi also said that in the spirit of South-South cooperation, India is assisting fellow developing countries to develop land restoration strategies.

• A centre of excellence is being set up in the country to promote a scientific approach towards land degradation issues.

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