Overview

Across much of the world, the land is losing its capacity to sustain life. Up to 40% of the world’s land is already degraded, affecting roughly 3.2 billion people and threatening countless species.[1] The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification’s (UNCCD) World Drought Atlas, finds that drought, driven by climate change, along with mismanagement of water and land, has grown almost a third since 2000.[2]

As land dries, its soils change with it. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations’ (FAO) Global Status of Salt-Affected Soils, the first global assessment of its kind in half a century, found that close to 1.4 billion hectares, more than a tenth of the world's land, are already affected by salinity, with a further billion hectares at risk.[3]   

Reversing this decline calls for more than technical fixes. The UNCCD’s Global Land Outlook Thematic Report on Rangelands and Pastoralism, 2024, emphasises that lasting recovery depends on sustainable land management and inclusive land governance.[4] Restoring 15% of converted land while halting further conversion could prevent as much as 60% of expected species extinctions, and every dollar invested can return up to thirty in ecosystem services.[5]  

Aligned with this year’s UNCCD COP 17 and Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) COP 17, GEAF is organising the seventh episode of its Climate Action Conversations series on the theme “How to Restore Degraded Ecosystems?”. The webinar will bring together experts to examine the drivers of ecosystem degradation and responses needed to restore them.

Anchored in the 2030 Agenda, the webinar contributes directly to

 

Webinar Objectives 

As part of its commitment to environmental protection, GEAF is organizing the seventh episode of its Climate Action Conversation Series on the theme “How to Restore Degraded Ecosystems”. The initiative aims to: