Land is at the heart of some of today's most pressing global development challenges, with an enormous potential to stimulate sustained economic growth and long-term social security.
Across many parts of the globe, however, degradation processes are severely undermining land's rich potential. A major obstacle has been the fact that land degradation has long been considered a peripheral environmental concern, marginalised in political decision-making and budgetary allocation processes.
Investment is urgently needed to safeguard this precious natural resource, so that it continues to contribute vital ecosystem and economic services for development at large.
Why invest in land?
The Global Mechanism (GM) promotes the value of healthy, productive land as a key component of the planet's natural capital: the stock of productive soil, fresh water, forests, clean air and other renewable resources underpin the survival and prosperity of human communities.
The GM's work is guided by the premise that land is central to achieving macro-economic growth, with a clear potential to reduce poverty and promote rural development. In particular, land resources are integral to increasing agricultural productivity, improving access to markets for small-scale farmers, and supporting broad efforts to secure long-term food security and national food sovereignty. Sustainable land management (SLM) is a vital measure in determining the quantity, quality and sustainability of agricultural production, a crucial factor therefore in ensuring that trade in agriculture is both sustainable and profitable. Moreover, SLM is crucial in strengthening the capacity of the agricultural sector to feed the population, by supporting rural producers to generate sustainable incomes and enhancing a stable and quality supply that meets market demands.
Nurturing the potential of land is also an imperative in order to meet global challenges, including for example adaptation to climate change, tapping into the potential of climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation. SLM is also central in responding to emerging geo-political concerns such as environmental migration, which is driven by degradation and resource scarcity.
Moreover, investments in land make sense from an economic perspective. There are an increasing number of economic valuations of land currently being carried out globally that highlight this very point. The GM is leading a consortium of partners in a global initiative, entitled the Economic Valuation of Land, to help countries generate evidence to support policies and investments into SLM. One recent study commissioned by the GM under this initiative indicated that countries in Central Africa could save as much as USD 5 billion every year by restoring the productivity of their degraded lands and forests. This groundwork at the country-level is greatly informing the global initiative entitled 'The Economics of Desertification, Land Degradation and Drought'.
Despite the clear benefits, recent statistics show that there is a significant financing gap between current investments in land and public expenditure. Rising to the challenge of increasing investments in land requires a broad commitment to swift action by government institutions, the private sector, civil society and international organizations. Together we must strive to position land at the core of countries' political priorities, thereby unleashing its value in securing the well-being and prosperity of future generations.
Methodology for Assessing Costs of Degradation and Benefits of Sustainable Land Management (658.91 kB)
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