Land degradation neutrality (LDN) is the overall goal of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCCD) to combat desertification. In the past 20 years, some countries and regions represented by China have developed and implemented policies to achieve LDN and have made significant achievements. However, people confuse this difference with an insufficient understanding of some definitions and processes, such as natural deserts and desertification, restoration, and reconstruction. This confusion has produced wrong goals, targets, and approaches to combating land degradation, leading to unsustainable results. This is one of the main reasons why there are currently too many problems or difficulties that hinder the achievement of the overall objectives of LLDN. After analyzing typical cases, such as the green deserts in China and the dust storms in Mongolia, we propose sustainable development, poverty eradication, and land management as sub-goals of global degraded land restoration based on the LDN framework. To achieve these three sub-goals, we suggest that any activity to combat land degradation should follow nine principles: establish a scientific assessment system; assess trends, not status; balance trade-offs between livelihood improvement and land restoration; external inputs; improve internal capacity; regular assessments; assess carrying capacity; improve land management; and rely on science and technology. It has been shown that, so far, these principles have not been scientifically accepted or implemented. Therefore, there is still a long way to go to achieve the overall goal of LDN, and more efforts and scientific exploration are needed. Also, we note that additional sub-goals and principles need to be considered in restoring degraded lands.

Xian Xue
Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences

 
ID Abstract: 343