A grim outlook

Investing in restoration of degraded land makes economic sense, can see massive financial benefits

- KIRAN PANDEY

SOME 40 per cent of the land across the globe is now de-graded, affecting half of humanity and threatening US $44 trillion in economic output, which is over half of the global GDP(gross domestic product) in 2021. This is the observation of the second edition of “Global Land Outlook” report (glo2) by the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), released on April 27, shortly before its 15th Conference of the Parties in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.

The report warns that at the current trend, an additional 1.6 billion hectares (ha), or an area almost the size of South America, will be degraded. This will lead to severe climate-induced disturbances that will disrupt food supply, cause migrations and accelerate species extinction. The report also estimates that an additional 69 gigatonnes of carbon emissions will be released from 2015 to 2050 due to land-use change, soil degradation and slowed agricultural yields. “As a finite resource and our most valuable natural asset, we cannot afford to continue taking land for granted,” Ibrahim Thiaw, executive secretary, UNCCD, said during launch of the report.