This editorial represents a clarion call for the aeolian research community to provide increased scientific input to theIntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and an in-vitation to apply for ISAR funding to organize a…

The publication titled, ‘The Development and Use of Biodiversity Indicators in Business: an Overview,’ is aimed at businesses and practitioners already involved in the development of biodiversity indicators that are being created to provide context around the additional business applications where…

In recent decades there have been numerous global and regional targets and initiatives to halt and reverse land degradation. The land degradation neutrality (LDN) target, embedded in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), provides a framework for countries to avoid or reduce…

WOCAT – The World Overview of Conservation Approaches and Technologies with its unique methodology and global Sustainable Land Management (SLM) database - can help promote scaling out of SLM and thus contribute to land degradation neutrality. This paper focuses primarily on three Land Degradation…

Much of the confusion about the definition of reference conditions for land health and degradation assessments is due to differences in policy and management objectives. Selection of a historic reference where it is not necessary, such as in the definition of future land degradation neutrality, can…

Seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted in September 2015 aim to end hunger and poverty, to protect the Planet, and to ensure peace and prosperity for all. The soil organic carbon (SOC) stock is a major planetary resource supporting many critically important ecosystem services (ESs)…

A publication by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and the Thematic Research Network on Data and Statistics (TReNDS) identifies four building blocks for innovative and inclusive national data systems for SDGs. The recommendations respond to main data challenges identified in the…

This new OECD platform for environmental indicators gives access to recent data through interactive graphics and provides trends on major environmental issues. The indicators help track environmental performance and compare country progress.

The Land Degradation Neutrality Initiative of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) encourages each of the 123 signatory countries to stabilise or reduce their extent of degraded land. Land degradation is assessed using the methods described in the Good Practice Guidance (GPG) document…

The objective of LDN is to maintain or even improve the amount of ecologically healthy and productive land resources over time, and to do it in line with national sustainable development priorities. Businesses, through their operations, impact land and depend on land according to their business…

When the headlines talk about food prices rising, which foods are they actually talking about? Too often, they represent basic staple grains or a basket of foods unrelated to nutritional needs. A project called Indicators of Affordability of Nutritious Diets in Africa (IANDA) is working to change…

The Scientific Conceptual Framework for Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) provides a scientific foundation for understanding, implementing and monitoring LDN. It has been designed to create a bridge between the vision and the practical implementation of LDN, by defining LDN in operational terms. The…

In adopting the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, world leaders agreed that a global Indicator framework was necessary to measure, monitor and report progress towards the 17 transformational Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 associated Targets. They also recognised the critical…

The 2017 Atlas of Sustainable Development Goals: a new visual guide to data and development. The World Bank is pleased to release the 2017 Atlas of Sustainable Development Goals. With over 150 maps and data visualizations, the new publication charts the progress societies are making towards the 17…

Land and Soil Actors Pilot Methodology for Global SDG Thematic Reviews. Participants at this year’s Global Soil Week (GSW) will convene a series of “Thematic Review LABs,” using an integrative land and soil perspective, as a contribution to thematic reviews to be undertaken at this year’s High-level…

FAO is ‘custodian’ UN agency for 21 indicators. Find out more about each indicator - key results, focal points, methodology and data.

Climate change has negative consequences for sustainable development, undermining the gains of intensive farming in developing countries and destabilizing existing land and resource governance institutions and property rights. In recent years, climate change has received a significant amount of…

Part of the project “Enabling the use of global data sources to assess and monitor land degradation at multiple scales”

Land degradation – the reduction or loss of the productive potential of land – is a global challenge. Over 20% of the Earth’s vegetated surface is estimated to be degraded, affecting over 1.3 billion people, with an economic impact of up to US$10.6 trillion. Land degradation reduces agricultural…