Abstract
The UNCCD is an international agreement focused on sustainable land management in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas. Since its establishment in 1994, it has played a significant role in promoting legal instruments for the protection of land, both at the national and international levels. It now has a mandate to help achieve a land degradation neutral world in accordance with Target 15.3 of the Sustainable Developments Goals. Consequently, it seems to be undergoing an evolutionary process to ensure fulfilment of that mandate. But is it too now narrow to offer the global protection that land and soils need in this the age of sustainable development, bearing in mind the status of the world’s bio-productive lands? With the planet’s population estimated to reach approximately 10 billion by 2050, will we have enough bio-productive land to produce the food, water, energy and other goods needed to guarantee the life of and on this planet? And what is the role of law and in particular international law and agreements such as the UNCCD in the further protection, preservation and enhancement of the bio-productive land of the planet? These are all fundamental issues that must be addressed now.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
See generally: Rosenberg (2019).
- 2.
Conrad (1900), p. 207.
- 3.
Brevik (2005).
- 4.
FAO (2011), p. 111.
- 5.
FAO (2011), p. 111.
- 6.
Blaikie and Brookfield (1987).
- 7.
Eswaran et al. (2001).
- 8.
Boer and Hannam (2005).
- 9.
IPBES (2018).
- 10.
United Nations, General Assembly (2015) The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
- 11.
Adhikari and Hartemink (2016).
- 12.
Eswaran et al. (2001).
- 13.
Bauer and Stringer (2009).
- 14.
UNESCO (1992) The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development.
- 15.
Republic of Namibia (2004) Namibia’s Third National Report on the implementation of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.
- 16.
Articles 3, 4, 5 and 6 of the UNCCD.
- 17.
All NAPs are hosted on the UNCCD website at: https://www.unccd.int/convention/action-programmes.
- 18.
China Committee for the Implementation of the UNCCD (2006).
- 19.
Mor (2018).
- 20.
See Regional Annexes of the UNCCD.
- 21.
United Nations (2013) United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. Report of the Conference of the Parties on its eleventh session, held in Windhoek from 16 to 27 September 2013.
- 22.
Ambalam (2014).
- 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).
- 26.
See UNEP, Convention on Biological Diversity (2010) Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011–2020 and the Aichi Targets (COP 10 Decision X/2) specifically Targets 4, 5, 7, 11 and 14.
- 27.
United Nations, UNFCC (2015) Paris Agreement. See especially Article 5.2.
- 28.
United Nations (2011) Convention to Combat Desertification. Report of the Conference of the Parties on its tenth session, held in Changwon from 10 to 21 October 2011.
- 29.
United Nations, General Assembly (2012) A/RES/66/288- The Future we want.
- 30.
UNCCD (2016a) Scaling up Land Degradation Neutrality Target Setting - from Lessons to Actions: 14 Pilot Countries’ Experiences.
- 31.
UNCCD (2016c) Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) Pilot Project country reports.
- 32.
UNCCD (2016b) Achieving Land Degradation Neutrality at the Country Level: Building Blocks for LDN Target Setting.
- 33.
See e.g. Decision 18/COP.14 of the final report of the UNCCD COP 14.
- 34.
United Nations (2017).
References
Adhikari K, Hartemink AE (2016) Linking soils to ecosystem services — a global review. Geoderma 262:101–111
Ambalam K (2014) Challenges of compliance with multilateral environmental agreements: the case of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Africa. J Sustain Dev Stud 5(2):145–168
Bauer S, Stringer LC (2009) The role of science in the global governance of desertification. J Environ Dev 18(3):248–267
Blaikie PM, Brookfield H (eds) (1987) Land degradation and society. Routledge
Boer B, Hannam I (2005) Developing a global soil regime. Int J Rural Law Policy (IJRLP) 2015 1:4123
Brevik EC (2005) A brief history of soil science. Land use, land cover and soil sciences, vol VI
China Committee for the Implementation of the UNCCD (2006) China National Report on the Implementation of the United Nation’s Convention to Combat Desertification. Retrieved from: http://www.unccd-prais.com/Uploads/GetReportPdf/cbc38bc4-5cbe-4312-aace-a0fa014a4aa7
Conrad J (1900) Lord Jim. Blackwood’s Magazine
Eswaran H, Lal R, Reich PF (2001) Land degradation: an overview. Responses to Land Degradation. Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Land Degradation and Desertification, Khon Kaen. Oxford Press, New Delhi
European Communities (2009) Sustainable agriculture and soil conservation. Fact Sheet No. 1: linking soil degradation processes, soil-friendly farming practices and soil-relevant policy measures. Retrieved from: https://esdac.jrc.ec.europa.eu/projects/SOCO/FactSheets/EN%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, FAO (2011) The state of the world’s land and water resources for food and agriculture (SOLAW)- Managing systems at risk. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome and Earthscan, London, p 111. Accessed 24 Sept 2019
Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, IPBES (2018) Media Release: Worsening Worldwide Land Degradation Now ‘Critical’, Undermining Well-Being of 3.2 Billion People. Retrieved from: https://www.ipbes.net/news/media-release-worsening-worldwide-land-degradation-now-%E2%80%98critical%E2%80%99-undermining-well-being-32
Mor T (2018) Towards a gender-responsive implementation of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. UN Women Headquarters. Retrieved from: https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2018/2/towards-a-gender-responsive-implementation-of-the-un-convention-to-combat-desertification
Republic of Namibia (2004) Namibia’s Third National Report on the implementation of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. Retrieved from: http://www.unccd-prais.com/Uploads/GetReportPdf/5de56af3-5e16-4828-b1bd-a0fa014a4a80
Rosenberg M (2019) Current world population and future projections. ThoughtCo, 22 Aug 2019. http://www.thoughtco.com/current-world-population-1435270
Stavi I, Lal R (2014) Achieving zero net land degradation: challenges and opportunities. J Arid Environ 112:44–51
United Nations (2011) Convention to Combat Desertification. Report of the Conference of the Parties on its tenth session, held in Changwon from 10 to 21 October 2011. Part one: Proceedings. Retrieved from: https://www.unccd.int/official-documents/cop-10-changwon-2011/iccdcop1031
United Nations (2013) United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. Report of the Conference of the Parties on its eleventh session, held in Windhoek from 16 to 27 September 2013. Part one: proceedings. Retrieved from: https://www.unccd.int/official-documents/cop-11-windhoek-2013
United Nations (2017) Convention to Combat Desertification. Report of the Conference of the Parties on its thirteenth session, held in Ordos, China from 6 to 16 September 2017. Part one: Proceedings, pp 13, 21–22. Retrieved from: https://www.unccd.int/official-documents/cop-13-ordos-china-2017/cop1321
United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, UNCCD (2012) Zero Net Land Degradation - A Sustainable Development Goal for Rio+20. Retrieved from: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/index.php?page=view&type=400&nr=526&menu=35
United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, UNCCD (2016a) Scaling up Land Degradation Neutrality Target Setting - from Lessons to Actions: 14 Pilot Countries’ Experiences. UNCCD publications. Retrieved from: https://www.unccd.int/publications/scaling-land-degradation-neutrality-target-setting-lessons-actions-14-pilot-countries
United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, UNCCD (2016b) Achieving Land Degradation Neutrality at the Country Level: Building Blocks for LDN Target Setting, UNCCD Publications. Retrieved from: https://www.unccd.int/publications/achieving-land-degradation-neutrality-country-level-building-blocks-ldn-target-setting
United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, UNCCD (2016c) Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) Pilot Project country reports. Retrieved from: https://www.unccd.int/publications/scaling-land-degradation-neutrality-target-setting-lessons-actions-14-pilot-countries
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO (1992) The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development
United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP), Convention on Biological Diversity (2010) Decision adopted by the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in its tenth meeting, Nagoya, Japan, 18–29 October 2010 (COP 10 Decision X/2. Retrieved from: https://www.cbd.int/decision/cop/?id=12268
United Nations, General Assembly (2012) A/RES/66/288- The Future we want
United Nations, General Assembly (2015) Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
United Nations, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, UNFCCC (2015) Paris Agreement
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Byron-Cox, R. (2020). From Desertification to Land Degradation Neutrality: The UNCCD and the Development of Legal Instruments for Protection of Soils. In: Yahyah, H., Ginzky, H., Kasimbazi, E., Kibugi, R., Ruppel, O. (eds) Legal Instruments for Sustainable Soil Management in Africa. International Yearbook of Soil Law and Policy(). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36004-7_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36004-7_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-36003-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-36004-7
eBook Packages: Law and CriminologyLaw and Criminology (R0)