"Land degradation " means reduction or loss, in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas, of the biological or economic productivity and complexity of rainfed cropland, irrigated cropland or range, pasture, forest and woodlands resulting from land uses or from a process or combination of processes, including processes arising from human activities and habitation patterns such as: soil erosion caused by wind and/or water; deterioration of the physical, chemical and biological or economic properties of soil; and long-term loss of natural vegetation. ( UNCCD Convention text)
Reduction or loss
Land use planning that seeks to balance the economic, social and cultural opportunities provided by land with the need to maintain and enhance ecosystem services provided by the land-based natural capital. It also aims to blend or coordinate management strategies and implementation requirements across multiple sectors and jurisdictions (adapted from United Nations General Assembly, 1992a).
The natural capital of land resources. This includes the properties of the soil (chemical, physical and biological factors), geomorphological, biotic and hydrological features, that interact with each other and with climate to determine the quantity and nature of ecosystem services provided by the land.
(Source: Orr et al. 2017. Scientific Conceptual Framework for Land Degradation Neutrality. A Report of the Science-Policy Interface. United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), Bonn, Germany. http://www2.unccd.int/sites/default/files/documents/2017-08/LDN_CF_repo…
The physical material at the surface of the Earth, which may be vegetated or non-vegetated, natural or managed (adapted from Di Gregorio et al., 2011). A specific land cover change, from one land cover class to another, may be designated by a country as land degradation (a negative land cover change; e.g., bush encroachment).
A category of land cover differentiated by a combination of diagnostic attributes based on a nationally-refined application of an international standard such as the FAO Land Cover Classification System (LCCS; Di Gregorio et al., 2011). The FAO system is a common reference structure for the comparison and integration of data for any generic land cover legend or nomenclature that allows correlation of land cover with a set of independent diagnostic criteria. Used to detect a significant change in land cover (one of the LDN indicators), and to identify land use.
(Source: Orr et al. 2017
A state whereby the amount and quality of land resources necessary to support ecosystem functions and services and enhance food security remain stable or increase within specified temporal and spatial scales and ecosystems (decision 3/COP.12, UNCCD, 2015a).
Decision 3/COP. 12 Integration of the Sustainable Development Goals and targets into the implementation of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification and the Intergovernmental Working Group report on land degradation neutrality.
The practices applied in managing land resources.
The inherent, long-term potential of the land to sustainably generate ecosystem services (UNEP, 2016), which reflects the capacity and resilience of the land-based natural capital, in the face of ongoing environmental change.
(Source: Orr et al. 2017. Scientific Conceptual Framework for Land Degradation Neutrality. A Report of the Science-Policy Interface. United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), Bonn, Germany. http://www2.unccd.int/sites/default/files/documents/2017-08/LDN_CF_repo…)
Class of land with respect to land potential, which is distinguished by the combination of edaphic, geomorphological, topographic, hydrological, biological and climatic features that support the actual or historic vegetation structure and species composition on that land. Used in counterbalancing “like for like”.
Type of activity being carried out on a unit of land, in urban, rural and conservation settings (IPCC, 2006). Land use refers to the total of arrangements, activities and inputs undertaken in a certain land cover type (a set of human actions). The term land use is also used in the sense of the social and economic purposes for which land is managed (e.g., grazing, timber extraction and conservation).
(Source: IPCC, 2014: Annex II: Glossary. In: Climate Change 2014: Synthesis Report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on
Spatial unit used in LDN planning and monitoring
(Source: Adapted from: Orr et al. 2017. Scientific Conceptual Framework for Land Degradation Neutrality. A Report of the Science-Policy Interface. United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), Bonn, Germany. http://www2.unccd.int/sites/default/files/documents/2017-08/LDN_CF_repo…)