29
the long-term productive potential of land resources including soils, water,
plants, animals, and microorganisms for the production of goods and services to
meet changing human needs without neglecting the long-term land potential
(WOCAT 2010).
Recent efforts have called for the need to scale up local sustainable land use
practices and local initiatives. These may eventually transform into larger scale integrated multi-stakeholder assessments to reorient land degradation towards sustainable land management (Reed et al. 2015), with a focus on knowledge exchange and
a learning-centered participatory approach (Bautista et al. 2017) to build resilience
to sustain ecosystem services in dryland socio-ecological systems (Biggs et al.
2015). This approach prepares for adjusting to new rapidly changing environmental,
socioeconomic, and sociopolitical conditions.
However, as we already know, understanding the legacy of land degradation
has proven difficult and challenging as it results from complex interactions and
feedbacks of multiple exogenous and endogenous drivers undergoing change (Liu
et al. 2007; Huber-Sannwald et al. 2012) affecting a large number of ecological
and social properties in an unpredictable fashion (Reynolds et al. 2007). Hence,
identifying the appropriate restoration mechanisms to induce short-, mid-, and
long-term recovery of the biophysical and socioeconomic subsystem is often
hampered by contrasting value systems, world views, knowledge types, and institutional ruling systems (Berkes et al. 2006; Gorddard et al. 2016). As the empirical work led by the International Network for Sustainable Drylands (RISZA)
showed through several case studies and during international fora, it becomes
crucial to promote a transformative framework for action. This framework should
include from land degradation to sustainable land management considering multiple SDGs simultaneously including synergies and trade-offs among them
(Mainali et al. 2018) and the inclusion of multiple sectors, actors, and regions--countries (Stafford Smith et al. 2017).
The sustainable management of drylands can also increase the potential of local,
regional, and global benefits of drylands that have not been fully utilized due to
weak public policies, market failures, gender inequalities, and mostly the lack of
integrated local policies that involve drylands communities (Stafford Smith et al.
2009). As a matter of fact, there is great concern in the Latin American region that
dryland ecosystems and populations face several risks and costs including land tenure reforms, soil conflicts, variable weather and climate, the drain of “community
human capital,” and the fast speed of erosion of natural areas. Indigenous knowledge and production methods are at risk too, being the regional host of 40% of the
international indigenous world heritage.
The IPCC SR15 (2015) urges for effective climate action through the formation
of novel partnerships of national and state governments and non-government sectors, including academic institutions, civil societies, the private sector, indigenous
groups, and local communities. These types of partnerships have also been advocated for the Sustainable Development Agenda of the United Nations (Sustainable
Development Goal 17, UN Agenda 2030). They aim to implement climate actions
(SDG 13) like combat desertification by achieving land degradation neutrality
2 Sustainable Development Goals and Drylands: Addressing the Interconnection
the long-term productive potential of land resources including soils, water,
plants, animals, and microorganisms for the production of goods and services to
meet changing human needs without neglecting the long-term land potential
(WOCAT 2010).
Recent efforts have called for the need to scale up local sustainable land use
practices and local initiatives. These may eventually transform into larger scale integrated multi-stakeholder assessments to reorient land degradation towards sustainable land management (Reed et al. 2015), with a focus on knowledge exchange and
a learning-centered participatory approach (Bautista et al. 2017) to build resilience
to sustain ecosystem services in dryland socio-ecological systems (Biggs et al.
2015). This approach prepares for adjusting to new rapidly changing environmental,
socioeconomic, and sociopolitical conditions.
However, as we already know, understanding the legacy of land degradation
has proven difficult and challenging as it results from complex interactions and
feedbacks of multiple exogenous and endogenous drivers undergoing change (Liu
et al. 2007; Huber-Sannwald et al. 2012) affecting a large number of ecological
and social properties in an unpredictable fashion (Reynolds et al. 2007). Hence,
identifying the appropriate restoration mechanisms to induce short-, mid-, and
long-term recovery of the biophysical and socioeconomic subsystem is often
hampered by contrasting value systems, world views, knowledge types, and institutional ruling systems (Berkes et al. 2006; Gorddard et al. 2016). As the empirical work led by the International Network for Sustainable Drylands (RISZA)
showed through several case studies and during international fora, it becomes
crucial to promote a transformative framework for action. This framework should
include from land degradation to sustainable land management considering multiple SDGs simultaneously including synergies and trade-offs among them
(Mainali et al. 2018) and the inclusion of multiple sectors, actors, and regions--countries (Stafford Smith et al. 2017).
The sustainable management of drylands can also increase the potential of local,
regional, and global benefits of drylands that have not been fully utilized due to
weak public policies, market failures, gender inequalities, and mostly the lack of
integrated local policies that involve drylands communities (Stafford Smith et al.
2009). As a matter of fact, there is great concern in the Latin American region that
dryland ecosystems and populations face several risks and costs including land tenure reforms, soil conflicts, variable weather and climate, the drain of “community
human capital,” and the fast speed of erosion of natural areas. Indigenous knowledge and production methods are at risk too, being the regional host of 40% of the
international indigenous world heritage.
The IPCC SR15 (2015) urges for effective climate action through the formation
of novel partnerships of national and state governments and non-government sectors, including academic institutions, civil societies, the private sector, indigenous
groups, and local communities. These types of partnerships have also been advocated for the Sustainable Development Agenda of the United Nations (Sustainable
Development Goal 17, UN Agenda 2030). They aim to implement climate actions
(SDG 13) like combat desertification by achieving land degradation neutrality
2 Sustainable Development Goals and Drylands: Addressing the Interconnection