Issue brief

SDG 15© Rodion-Kustaev/unsplash

PROMOTING THE SUSTAINABILITY OF TERRESTRIALECOSYSTEMS AND HALTING DESERTIFICATION,LAND DEGRADATION AND BIODIVERSITY LOSS
Sustainable Development Goal 15 (SDG 15) – Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably
manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.

UN Environment, together withother organizations, areresponsible for the following
indicators:➡

15.1.2: Proportion of importantsites for terrestrial andfreshwater biodiversity that arecovered by protected areas, byecosystem type➡

15.4.1: Coverage by protectedareas of important sites for
mountain biodiversity➡

15.6.1: Number of countries
that have adopted legislative,administrative and policy
frameworks to ensure fair andequitable sharing of benefits➡

15.9.1: Progress towards nationaltargets established in accordancewith Aichi Biodiversity Target 2 of
the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity
2011-2020➡

15.a.1: Official development
assistance on conservation andsustainable use of biodiversity
and ecosystem➡

15.b.1: Official development
assistance on forestconservation and sustainable
forest management© Ganapathy-Kumar/unsplash

Environmental dimension ofSDG 15
The rising global demand for food to feed
the 9 billion people that will populate theplanet by 2050 combined with the continuingenvironmental and land degradation underlines
the urgency for achieving a transformation
toward sustainable land use. To ensure that noone is left behind we must endeavor to secure
healthy and productive land. The 2030 Agenda
for Sustainable Development provides anopportunity to work globally towards this end.
Examples of nature’s contributions to people,
often referred to as ecosystem services,
include the provision of food, raw materials,
cultural identity and support for physical,
mental and emotional health. Biodiversity
enhances these services and indeed underpins
many of them, e.g. pollination of crops.
However, declining biodiversity and degradedecosystems driven by such external pressures
as development, pollution, and land use change
are threatening especially poor and vulnerable

communities, as narrowing sources of food,medicine, fuel and clean water combinedwith land degradation and soil erosion create
detrimental impacts upon subsistence
lifestyles and smallholder farmers in particular.
Restoring degraded rangelands, for example,
brings multiple social, economic andenvironmental benefits to local land users
as well as to global society. Carbon stored in
the soil translates into higher soil fertility andmoisture, which provides benefits to rangeland
managers through improved productivity.
Land degradation and soil pollution have been
identified as posing a serious socio-economic
and health issue. Land degradation is triggeredby drought, population growth, pollution,
intensive farming practices, overgrazing,overexploitation, urbanization and climatechange. Sustainable land management
integrating cross sector participation is anurgent action needed requiring international
community’s immediate attention andsupport to: a) combat desertification and land➡

Every minute, 23 hectares of arable land are lost due to drought and desertification.

➡

Over the last two decades, approximately 20 per cent of the Earth’s vegetated surface has
shown persistent declining trends in productivity, mainly due to unsustainable land andwater use and management practices.

➡

Every year, 13 million hectares of forest are lost that are home to more than 80 per cent of
all land-based species and which provide livelihood to 1.6 billion people.

➡

The increased vulnerability to environment stresses, especially of the poor, women andchildren, can lead to an intensified competition for scarce natural resources and result in
migration, instability and conflict.

➡

Women and girls are disproportionately and differently affected by environmental
degradation, pollution and natural and human-made disasters, and it is important torecognize the fundamental contributions of women to the conservation, protection andmanagement of ecosystems and natural resources.

➡

Increased security of tenure and gender equity can be enabling factors for the adoption
and scale up of more responsible land management practices.
© Parelkar/UNICEF

related to mainstreaming biodiversity among
relevant organizations of the UN system”.
In this context, UN Environment is working
towards developing and promoting integrated
approaches and land use planning to thebenefit of all the SDGs.

UN Environment in the
promotion of integrated andlandscape approaches© Boudewijn-huysmans/unsplash

degradation effectively; b) promote sustainable
policies and use of natural resources; and c)
improve adaptation to climate change. Landuse in agriculture and forestry must be basedon a scientific assessment of land capacity
and the annual depletion of topsoil.

UN Environment and SDG 15
The protection of our land resources must be ahigh priority if we are to make a transition to amore sustainable society.
UN Environment Assembly resolution
2/16 adopted in 2016 on “Mainstreaming
biodiversity for well-being” acknowledges
that the integration of policies set out in the2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
is an adequate approach for promoting
the conservation and sustainable use of
biodiversity in various sectors, including
agriculture, forestry, fisheries and tourism,among others, which are interconnected, interalia, with food security, economic growth,
human health, the improvement of living
conditions and the enjoyment of a healthyenvironment. The resolution calls on Member
States to promote the integrated approachin their national policies, taking into accountdifferent national realities, capacities and levelsof development.
In its resolution 3/2 on “Pollution mitigation
by mainstreaming biodiversity into keysectors”, the UN Environment Assemblyrecognized that “a healthy environment is afundamental condition for the well-being of
all life forms” and requested UN Environment
Executive Director to “promote close
coordination, collaboration and synergies© Harshil-Gudka/unsplash

Addressing the issues of equity, environment
and poverty have been at the heart of work byUN Development Programme-UN Environment
Poverty Environment Initiative. In addition, theConvention on Biological Diversity’s Nagoya
Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources
and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits
Arising from their Utilization provides aframework to define how genetic material isaccessed and how benefits from its use areshared between people and countries either
using or providing the resource; over 100
countries have now ratified the Protocol. Social
equity in the context of protected areas also
figures highly in Target 11 of the Convention on
Biological Diversity Aichi Biodiversity targets.
UN Environment has been working alongside
partners to improve our understanding ofassessing and advancing equity in protectedarea management.
Combining forces with other UN Agencies, UN
Environment has supported the developmentof national biodiversity strategy and actionplans (NBSAPs), which if implemented cancontribute significantly to SDG 15 in some150 countries. Real success was achieved
where implementation committees or delivery
units, with cross-sectoral representation
were convened and remain in place for
implementation. Reaching out to sectors todevelop sustained relationship for co-deliveryof NBSAP actions is another successful
approach.
UN Environment leads the UN Programme on
Reducing Emissions from Deforestation andForest Degradation (UN-REDD) support tocountries on addressing and respecting theCancun safeguards for REDD+ under the UNFramework Convention on Climate Change.
As countries clarify their understanding of
the safeguards and assess the policies andmeasures proposed for REDD+ implementation,a wide range of issues are covered including
potential risks and benefits related to genderequality, the rights of indigenous peoples andlocal communities and their full and effective
participation in REDD+ actions.
Within UN Environment’s REDD+ work,
clear lessons are that at a landscape-scale,strategies for protection and production needto go hand in hand. A participatory process
can be deployed to plan how investments

in improved yield are made on productive
lands whilst protection and restoration ofnatural forest ecosystems is strengthened.
Identification, mapping and awareness raisingof the value of natural ecosystems for climatechange mitigation and other ecosystemservices should help to provide the evidencebase for such a process. The UN-REDD
Programme’s work on design and financing
of REDD+ strategies and investment plans is
helping its partner countries to move towards
successful implementation of REDD+.
Through the Interfaith Rainforest Initiative,
UN Environment is establishing an innovative
strategy to engage with and empower faithbased organizations to deliver on the SDGs.
The Interfaith Rainforest Initiative will mobilizeand equip both high-level faith leaders andgrassroots networks in major rainforest andconsumer countries to engage in advocacy,
action and leadership to protect rainforests.
UN Environment is helping to make the casefor the protection, restoration and sustainable
use of peatlands worldwide through themulti-partner Global Peatland Initiative, witha particular focus on tropical peat swamp
forest. The “Smoke on Water” rapid response
assessment gives a global overview of thestate of knowledge.
Illegal wildlife and timber trade continues to bea global challenge requiring high-level attentionand action. UN Environment, in partnershipwith the Convention on International Tradein Endangered Species of Wild Fauna andFlora (CITES), UN Office on Drugs and Crime(UNODC) and other UN agencies continues tomake strides in addressing this issue, including
through the Wild for Life campaign. In addition,
wild meat is an emerging issue with important
ramifications in livelihoods, sustainability, foodsecurity and human health. UN Environment isa partner to the Collaborative Partnership on
Sustainable Wildlife Management.
UN Environment stands ready to work withMember States and relevant stakeholders
to ensure that SDG 15 is fully implemented.
For further information or questions,please contact Musonda Mumba andSiham Drissi, Ecosystems Division at UN

Environment: musonda.mumba@un.org
and siham.drissi@un.org.