Land for life. Create wealth, transform lives

The publication Land for Life: create wealth, transform lives collects stories of communities' sustainable land management initiatives which succeeded to reverse the degrading situation of their land, enhancing the resilience of both ecosystems and livelihoods and creating wealth from their resources. Through the selected projects, the book highlights practices and technologies being used to improve and sustain land productivity. The examples provide evidence that sustainable land management can arrest or reverse the degradation of biophysical elements of the land, while offering opportunities to improve the well-being of communities that depend directly on that land. It also shows that when the socioeconomic conditions are improved and livelihoods transformed, land resources are better managed. This publication is the third in theLand for Life seriesfor the United Nations Conventions to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). 

Land is an important livelihood asset for millions of people across the globe. For example, some about 1.6 million people depend on forest landscapes for their livelihoods. They get their food, fiber, fuel, and medicine directly from forests. Nearly 5 billion hectares of the planet’s land area are under crop and livestock production, which utilizes natural capital — soil, water, and genetic resources — to produce food, fiber, and biomass. Managing this land efficiently and effectively is essential for maintaining the planet’s life support system. Land management underpins sustainable development. This realization is now embodied in the Sustainable Development Goals. Goal 15 focuses on “life on land” to: protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation as well as biodiversity loss. According to this publication, sustainable land management remains one of mankind’s greatest challenges. It notes that as many as 10 million hectares of land lose their productive capacity each year due to unsustainable practices. More than 2 billion people, including some of the world’s poorest smallholders and pastoralists, are affected by this trend.