Program Overview

Land degradation - a global challenge

Past assessments have revealed that land degradation is a global problem, affecting about a quarter of global land area. Moreover, about 42% of the very poor live on degraded land. Given that the poor heavily depend on natural resources, land degradation affects their welfare and poses a daunting challenge to national and global efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. Additionally, recent global developments such as high food prices, increasing demand for bio-energy, large land acquisitions in developing countries by international investors have raised awareness among both private and public actors that land scarcity is actually an issue. Consequently, the attention of policy makers at national, regional and international levels to the issue of land degradation has increased significantly.

The current increased awareness provides an opportunity for mobilizing investments in the sustainable management of land resources at national and global levels. However, such investments in rehabilitating land or preventing its degradation require a careful prior economic assessment of land degradation and its drivers as well as of the expected returns on investments.

Global assessment study 2010-2011

Such a global assessment study on the economics of land degradation was commissioned by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) in collaboration with the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) to be carried out in 2010-2011. The International Food Policy Institute (IFPRI) and ZEF conducted a state-of-the-knowledge study and developed an analytical and conceptual framework for a global assessment of land degradation.

The IFPRI-ZEF study “The Economics of Land Degradation: Toward an integrated global assessment” (2010 – 2011) (Nkonya et al. 2011) also identified a number of gaps in the methodologies implemented in prior assessments. It also pointed out to the demand for partnerships and an adequate institutional set-up for achieving an integrated global assessment of the economics of land degradation (ELD).

The ELD project now

This current project now seeks to implement the approach recommended by Nkonya et al. (2011) for conducting an integrated global assessment of the costs of action and inaction against land degradation.

This initiative and approach differ significantly from past global studies, which largely examined the biophysical extent and impacts of land degradation. Taking note of the evolving science and methodologies for the biophysical assessment of land degradation, the proposed approach emphasizes the need to initiate investments in combating land degradation. Decisions to take action against land degradation should therefore be guided by its social costs – broadly defined as loss of human welfare on-site (directly depending on land) and off-site (indirect effects of land degradation) and costs and benefits of actions against land degradation. Such actions can only be taken after a careful assessment of the extent and severity of land degradation as well as its impact on human welfare.