husbandry are cases in point. The way these are sometimes done has led to negative
effects, including various forms of the depletion soil productivity and even to ultimate
soil exhaustion.
23
These facts are some of the fundamental reasons that justified the UNCCD paying
attention to the question of land degradation as a global phenomenon, rather than just
something that takes place in the arid and semiarid lands.
With a growing world population and the consequent demand on land to produce
more of everything it offers, the logical question is: Can we continue to damage and
destroy our bio-productive land on such a scale?
The answer to this is certainly no, that is if we care about sustaining life on this
planet, and indeed the life of the planet itself. This then leads to a second logical
question: So what do we do? It is in trying to answer this second question that the
UNCCD came up with the concept of Zero Net Land Degradation.
24
3 The Concept of Zero Net Land Degradation
The elementary, yet very powerful, idea behind Zero Net Land Degradation is that
social and economic development can—and should—proceed apace without any
further loss in the bio-productive lands of the planet. This is now universally
accepted, as reflected in goal 15 of the Sustainable Development Goals. Put simply,
it means that using any year as the base point of measurement (whatever year that
may be), all efforts would be made to ensure that as a global measure, no more land
is degraded through our social or economic activity or from any other action of
humans. And if this loss indeed must unavoidably take place, then an equal amount
of degraded land must be restored to its bio-productivity capacity. This, therefore,
was the genesis of a process where addressing land degradation would ultimately
become a central element in efforts to achieve sustainable land management and
ultimately sustainable development.
Zero Net Land Degradation proved to be a very hard concept to sell for a
multitude of reasons, not least among which was the question of how to implement
and measure it.
25 There were other serious questions of legal and political nature,
such as whether the UNCCD was going beyond its mandate in seeking to introduce
this concept the UNCCD. In short, the concept of Zero Net Land Degradation did not
receive universal or majority acceptance in the international arena.
23 European Communities (2009).
24 United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, UNCCD (2012) Zero Net Land Degradation - A Sustainable Development Goal for Rio+20.
25 Stavi and Lal (2014).
From Desertification to Land Degradation Neutrality: The UNCCD and the. . .
7
effects, including various forms of the depletion soil productivity and even to ultimate
soil exhaustion.
23
These facts are some of the fundamental reasons that justified the UNCCD paying
attention to the question of land degradation as a global phenomenon, rather than just
something that takes place in the arid and semiarid lands.
With a growing world population and the consequent demand on land to produce
more of everything it offers, the logical question is: Can we continue to damage and
destroy our bio-productive land on such a scale?
The answer to this is certainly no, that is if we care about sustaining life on this
planet, and indeed the life of the planet itself. This then leads to a second logical
question: So what do we do? It is in trying to answer this second question that the
UNCCD came up with the concept of Zero Net Land Degradation.
24
3 The Concept of Zero Net Land Degradation
The elementary, yet very powerful, idea behind Zero Net Land Degradation is that
social and economic development can—and should—proceed apace without any
further loss in the bio-productive lands of the planet. This is now universally
accepted, as reflected in goal 15 of the Sustainable Development Goals. Put simply,
it means that using any year as the base point of measurement (whatever year that
may be), all efforts would be made to ensure that as a global measure, no more land
is degraded through our social or economic activity or from any other action of
humans. And if this loss indeed must unavoidably take place, then an equal amount
of degraded land must be restored to its bio-productivity capacity. This, therefore,
was the genesis of a process where addressing land degradation would ultimately
become a central element in efforts to achieve sustainable land management and
ultimately sustainable development.
Zero Net Land Degradation proved to be a very hard concept to sell for a
multitude of reasons, not least among which was the question of how to implement
and measure it.
25 There were other serious questions of legal and political nature,
such as whether the UNCCD was going beyond its mandate in seeking to introduce
this concept the UNCCD. In short, the concept of Zero Net Land Degradation did not
receive universal or majority acceptance in the international arena.
23 European Communities (2009).
24 United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, UNCCD (2012) Zero Net Land Degradation - A Sustainable Development Goal for Rio+20.
25 Stavi and Lal (2014).
From Desertification to Land Degradation Neutrality: The UNCCD and the. . .
7