Land degradation neutrality, drylands and ecosystem restoration (November 2021)

IUCN CEM Ecosystem Restoration Thematic Group Webinar Series 
Land degradation neutrality, drylands and ecosystem restoration

Graciela Metternicht, Co-lead, IUCN-CEM Dryland Experts Specialist Group and Professor of Environmental Geography at the Earth Science and Sustainability Research Centre of the University of New South Wales, Sydney

You can find the complete Series Playlist here:    • IUCN CEM Ecosystem Restoration Themat...  


Abstract
At the last COP of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification the IUCN stated that “Drylands are globally important areas that are home to more than a third of humanity, including many of the world’s poorest populations. Restoring, rehabilitating, and sustainably managing dryland ecosystems is a high priority for equitably achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Achieving SDG Target 15.3 on Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) will be a major step in the transition towards global sustainability”.

Land degradation neutrality is a concept that has been embraced in the UN Convention to Combat Desertification Strategic framework 2018-2030. It is a target in the UN SDGs and is a focus of funding in the land degradation project portfolio of the UN Global Environment Facility. With its emphasis on maintaining or enhancing the land resource base to support ecosystem functions and services for ensuring human wellbeing, food security and healthy ecosystems, the LDN framework is guiding responses to land degradation in over 122 countries. Over 100 countries have set land degradation neutrality targets, and drylands present a unique opportunity to apply the LDN hierarchy of avoiding land degradation, reducing and restoring degraded land. But have we the necessary knowledge to inform the process of designing interventions to address the hierarchy of responses in the socio-ecological system of drylands? What are the main issues that facilitate or hinder work towards land degradation neutral drylands? What are the priorities/knowledge gaps that need to be addressed?

Do we need more knowledge, or do we need more translational research, and co-operation, collaboration? Better ways to organise, share and exchange knowledge?

Join me in this webinar, where I will discuss these issues and reflect on the dryland’s contribution to global sustainability goals, and how they can play a part in achieving goals of the UN Decade on Ecosystems Restoration and other major global initiatives. Time permitting, I will make a case for the drylands as global commons.

Speaker Bio

Graciela Metternicht

Graciela Metternicht is Professor of Environmental Geography at the Earth Science and Sustainability Research Centre of the University of New South Wales, Sydney. She co-leads the IUCN CEM Dryland Ecosystems Specialist Group, is the land degradation adviser of the Scientific, Technical and Advisory Panel of the UN Global Environment Facility, Chair National Committee for Geographical Science of the Australian Academy of Science, and Council member of the International Society of Digital Earth. Former member of the UNCCD Science-Policy Interface, the Future Earth Global Land Programme Scientific and Steering Committee, Graciela works in the fields of Earth Observation science and environmental geography. She has a special interest in applications of geospatial technologies for environmental management and sustainability, and is co-author of the Scientific Conceptual Framework for Land Degradation Neutrality.