Life on Land

In September 2015, 193 world leaders agreed to 17 Global Goals for Sustainable Development. If these Goals are completed, it would mean an end to extreme poverty, inequality and climate change by 2030.
Goal 15: Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss,

[New] Atmospheric warming is expected to evolve in the Mediterranean area 20% faster than the global average, and marine heatwaves will occur with increasing frequency by the end of the 21st century, with serious consequences for marine biodiversity and production.
[New] The United Nations recognises the role of biodiversity in stabilising climate and has declared that the next decade will be the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030.
[New] Mandate protection from commercial fishing for 30% of the U.S. ocean by 2030 and would also advocate for a global goal of 30% of land and ocean areas to be protected under the Convention on Biological Diversity.
[New] Up to one-fifth of the world's species are at risk of extinction this century due to climate change alone, with some of the highest rates of loss anticipated in biodiversity hotspots.
[New] Temperatures across European land areas will continue to increase throughout this century at a higher rate than the global average.
[New] Global and regional frameworks for biodiversity such as the post-2020 global biodiversity framework and the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 are moving towards strategies that promote business decisions that value nature.
Leaders must adopt and implement a target to fully and highly protect at least 30% of the global ocean and 30% of land areas and inland waters by 2030 through effectively and equitably managed, ecologically representative, and well-connected systems of protected areas.
In 2021, governments across the world are slated to agree to a new set of post-2020 targets for addressing biodiversity loss, during the Convention on Biological Diversity.
Across 17 major economies, out of the $11.8 trillion global fiscal stimulus packages, around 30% will flow into sectors that have intensive impacts on the environment - whether on climate change, biodiversity or local pollution.
Nature-based solutions could provide around a third of the most cost-effective climate change mitigation that we need by 2030, while also helping to reverse biodiversity loss and assist people in adapting to their altered circumstances.
2021 will be the year that every company - not just the 15% of firms that were already digitally savvy - doubles down on technology-fueled experiences, operations, products and ecosystems.
Over 1.5 million people will have to be moved away 195,000 jobs will be lost and an economic loss of land and properties of over $30 billion are expected over the next century.
France will mobilize for the adoption of an ambitious new global strategic framework for the protection of biodiversity at next year's UN Biodiversity Conference in Kunming, China.
The air temperatures over the ocean will enter a new climate during the first half or middle of this century, with air temperatures over land warming substantially later in the century.
Forest and landscape restoration will require no less than USD 40 billion annually in each of the next 10 years to achieve the world's commitments made through the Bonn Challenge, Initiative 20×20, AFR100 and the New York Declaration on Forests.
Droughts are likely to become the norm in Afghanistan by 2030, leading to land degradation and desertification, affecting more than a third of its 38 million people.
Existing protected natural areas comprise 26% of land in England, and an additional 4% - over 400,000 hectares - will be protected to support the recovery of nature.
The LPR 2020 includes pioneering modelling which shows that without further efforts to counteract habitat loss and degradation, global biodiversity will continue to decline.
In the wake of heat waves, global warming, forest fires, storms, droughts, and a rising number of hurricanes, the UN weather agency is warning that the number of people who need international humanitarian help could rise 50% by 2030 compared to the 108 million who needed it worldwide in 2018.
Expanding protected areas over the next decade will be crucial for conservation outcomes and securing benefits from biodiversity.
Next year, countries are expected to adopt an ambitious and transformative Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework at the UN Biodiversity Conference in China, but governments alone cannot stop the global nature crisis.
The application of the global guidelines and the achievement of their goals will help to conserve forest biodiversity, ensure sustainable forestry, and contribute to the achievement of several Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations linked with forest biodiversity.
Declaring 2021-2030 the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, the UN is aiming to repair degraded and destroyed ecosystems, and, ultimately, bend the curve of biodiversity loss.

Last updated: 22 November 2020

Life on Land

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