For the purpose of UNCCD reporting, this land cover class includes any geographic area dominated by natural abiotic surfaces (bare soil, sand, rocks, etc.) that do not have an artificial cover as a result of human activities and where the natural vegetation is absent or almost absent (covers less than 2-4%). Included are bare rock areas, sands and deserts. The class also includes areas regularly flooded by inland water (lake shores, river banks, salt flats etc.). It excludes coastal areas affected by the tidal movement of salt water. It includes beaches, dunes, sands and deserts, and bare rock
The process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded (Society for Ecological Restoration International Science and Policy Working Group, 2004 & McDonald et al., 2016). Restoration seeks to re-establish the pre-existing ecological structure and function, including biotic integrity. (see Figure 8).
Figure 8 Options for reversing land degradation
The use of land resources – including soils, water, vegetation, and animals – to produce goods and provide services to meet changing human needs, while simultaneously ensuring the long-term productive potential of these resources and the maintenance of their environmental functions.
(Source: WOCAT glossary https://www.wocat.net/glossary) Target
Summarizes the combined issues and impacts related to desertification, land degradation and drought. See also "Desertification", "Land degradation" and "Drought"
Land productivity is the biological productive capacity of the land, the source of all the food, fibre and fuel that sustains humans.
(Source: Sims et al. (2017). Good Practice Guidance SDG Indicator 15.3.1: Proportion of Land that is degraded over total land area. United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), Bonn, Germany.http://www2.unccd.int/sites/default/files/relevant-links/2017-10/Good%2…)
The term “land productivity dynamics” (LPD) reflects the fact that the primary productivity of a stable land system is not a steady state, but often highly variable between different years and vegetation growth cycles due to natural variation and/or human intervention.
(Source: UNCCD, 2017. The Global Land Outlook, first edition. Bonn, Germany https://global-land-outlook.squarespace.com/the-outlook/#the-bokk)