The SDGs edition gives a holistic view of where things currently stand, identifying opportunities and providing tangible ways to accelerate progress. It provides a framework to understand the complex interdependencies, highlights priorities and dilemmas, and, most importantly, offers solutions. It…

In this paper, we assess the causes and extent of land degradation around the world, followed by an outline of the various challenges in implementing a global Zero Net Land Degradation (ZNLD) policy.

In recent years, hundreds of companies have entered the restoration industry. They represent a wide range of business models that deliver financial returns for investors while restoring forests and agricultural lands. This report profiles 14 businesses that are part of an emerging restoration…

Tropical forests are home to more than half of the world’s species and play an important role in offsetting global warming, but they are under threat due to global demand for land, energy, food and other resources. The scale of that threat can now be better understood through the findings of…

What is land degradation and why it matters for business? Is degraded land an under performing asset?

As farmers, foresters and providers, women have a unique understanding of the ecosystems they live alongside. A pioneering radio programme in Malawi is tapping into this immense body of knowledge by creating a platform for women to engage in landscape restoration.

Case studies from WRI’s Restoration Diagnostic show that land restoration in Latin America and the Caribbean has been done before. Successes from Brazil, Panama and Costa Rica offer lessons on how to get degraded land back into productive use.

A group of scientists announced a surprising discovery in Science magazine: There are vast forests in the world's deserts and drylands—about 1.8 million square miles of them (467 million hectares), an area larger than the size of India! Researchers at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, WRI…

Rising Carbon Emissions from Warming Soil Highlight Benefits of Land Restoration. A new study in the journal Nature explores a vicious cycle: as a changing climate driven by greenhouse gas emissions warms the planet, soils heat up and the micro-organisms that live in the soil start to expel heat…

Restoration of degraded land can create vast bioenergy crop potential, without constraining food crops or other land use options. This presents an important opportunity for African countries to develop modern, sustainable bioenergy from rapidly growing wood crops at the same time as pursuing…

The UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) highlighted ongoing efforts to leverage private funding for large-scale land restoration, through the newly launched LDN Fund, a public-private funding mechanism. Simone Quatrini, Global Mechanism of the UNCCD, said more than 100 countries so far…

Several multilateral environmental agreements include ecosystem restoration. These include Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)’s Aichi Biodiversity Targets 1431 and 15,32 the Sustainable Development Goals,33 and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification’s land degradation…

Land Degradation Neutrality is one of the Sustainable Development Goal targets, requiring on-going degradation to be balanced by restoration and sustainable land management. However, restoration and efforts to prevent degradation have often failed to deliver expected benefits, despite enormous…

"Land degradation is estimated to cost the global economy from $2 to $4.5 trillion a year, while economic benefits of restoration efforts are an estimated $84 billion a year, according to a report in Environmental Research Letters, and statistics from World Resources Institute. The purpose of the…