Background
In collaboration with World Resources Institute (WRI), United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), and the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL), ISRIC-World Soil Information contributed to a technical report commissioned by the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
Objective
Subject of the report is a global review of assessments on land and ecosystem degradation. Major ecosystems covered under this study are agroecosystems, grassland, forest, dryland, wetland, and coastal ecosystems. The study includes, but is not limited to, former ISRIC activities such as GLASOD or GLADA.
The background to this report is the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, especially Target 15 that aims at restoring 15% of degraded ecosystems by 2020. CBD intends to use the findings from this review in a series of subregional capacity-building workshops to demonstrate the potential and multiple benefits of ecosystem restoration, and to support achievement of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets.
Results
Following international review, the findings were published as an INF note for CBD COP12.