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Addressing land in the Paris Agreement implementation is extremely important for the preservation of the environment and people’s well-being, as life on Earth depends on access to healthy and productive land. Moreover, the fate of land and climate change is closely interlinked: land degradation is both a cause and consequence of climate change. If we wish to remain below the 2°C global warming threshold for the next 15 years, the way we use and manage land will be crucial to achieving this goal.

Why Sustainable Land management is crucial to Global Climate Action?

Sustainable land management (SLM) improves land use and management. Practices such as low-emissions agriculture, agro-forestry and ecosystem conservation and restoration, sustainable urbanization and adoption of renewable energy could close the remaining emissions gap by up to 25 %, as well as building and enhancing resilience towards climate change.

There is ample evidence that SLM approaches can actively reduce emissions in the short to medium term. The potential amount of reduction is up to 6.4 Gt CO2 e per year in 2030. In addition, global soils also hold great potential as a “safety deposit box “ for carbon, storing more than double the carbon (2,529 Gt) of the combined total of atmosphere (830 Gt) and biomass (576 Gt). If we want to strike a balance between land conservation and future demands on natural resources, it is imperative to make use of our land responsibly.

The UNCCD Secretariat joins the momentum towards the UNFCCC COP23 to be held in Bonn this November and launch #LoveLand4Climate campaign to showcase SLM is vital for climate change mitigation and adaptation. The campaign calls upon all stakeholders: governments, civil society organizations, non- governmental organizations, academia, private businesses and individuals to come together and take responsibility for how we manage our land. Remember - our land is our home, our future.

Adopt SLM now to build resilience! We are collecting at least 10,000 signatures to show solidarity for adoption of SLM for Climate change mitigation and adaptation and show the World we CARE and we want a POSITIVE CHANGE!

Every single voice makes a different. Support the petition #LoveLand4Climate

More about land issues and SLM success cases, check out our recent publication

For insights and analysis of land related thematic areas, check out our recent launched Global Land Outlook

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