Land Degradation and Restoration

Dr. Shahzad Wasif

On June 5, 2024, the annual World Environment Day was celebrated, with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia hosting the event. The focus of this year’s global commemoration was on land restoration, desertification and drought resilience. Being a country hard hit by climate change, Pakistan stands at a critical juncture as land degradation, due to the rising impacts of climate change, is a serious risk to Pakistan’s food and water security. Agriculture is the lifeline of Pakistan and land degradation, coupled with forest degradation, would cast serious impacts, that would further aggravate the problem. So, Pakistan needs the support and backing of the international community in its fight against desertification and land degradation.

Land degradation and desertification, mostly caused by climate change-induced erratic weather patterns, has emerged as a big challenge to a large number of countries, including Pakistan. This phenomenon makes around six million hectares of land unproductive and causes about USD 42 billion in economic losses globally every year. This situation may lead to starvation and hunger due to water scarcity in the next few decades, if not controlled properly.
A United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) report has revealed that more than 3.2 billion people, or two in every five, worldwide are affected by land degradation and desertification and up to 143 million could move within their countries by 2050 to escape water scarcity and falling crop productivity, mainly caused by climate change. Also, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) disclosed that the planet would reach a 1.5°C increase in temperatures by 2030, leading to extreme droughts, food shortage and floods.
Land restoration plays a vital role in the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030) and is essential for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. In this context, it is important to understand the issue of land degradation and restoration from a broader perspective.
What is land degradation?
Land degradation is a negative trend in land condition caused by direct or indirect human-induced processes, including anthropogenic climate change, expressed as a long-term reduction or loss of at least one of the following: biological productivity, ecological integrity or value to humans.
Land has always been a central focus in the climate change debate because it both influences and is impacted by climate change. Forests, trees and vegetation are crucial as carbon dioxide sinks. However, land degradation and desertification pose significant challenges to the environment.
Definitions
Simply put, it is the deterioration of land caused directly or indirectly by human activities. It is truly a global challenge, affecting at least 25% of land and as many as 3.2 billion people worldwide, with disproportionate impacts felt by women and girls.
a. According to the Convention on Combating Desertification
Land degradation means reduction or loss in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas of the biological or economic productivity and complexity of rainfed cropland, irrigated cropland or range, pasture, forest and woodlands resulting from land uses or from a process or combination of processes, including processes arising from human activities and habitation patterns, such as soil erosion, caused by wind and/or water; deterioration of the physical, chemical and biological or economic properties of the soil; long-term loss of natural vegetation.
b. As per the FAO:
Land degradation is the reduction in the capability of the land to produce benefits from a particular land use under a specified form of land management.
c. UNEP’s definition:
Land degradation is the temporary or permanent lowering of the productive capacity of land.
Causes
Land degradation is caused by multiple forces, including extreme weather conditions, particularly drought. It is also caused by human activities that pollute or degrade the quality of soils and land utility. It negatively affects food production, livelihoods and the production and provision of other ecosystem goods and services. Desertification is a form of land degradation by which fertile land becomes desert.
Impacts
Land provides critical ecosystem services and is inextricably tied to human well-being, influencing food security and livelihoods. But when land resources are overexploited and degraded, it has a detrimental impact on quality of life, leading to threats to food and water security and migration.
According to UNEP, “As of today, almost a quarter of the world’s total land area has been degraded. This creates enormous problems not only for the billions of people who directly depend on agriculture, but it also has far-reaching impacts affecting every single person on this planet today. These impacts include food shortages, volatility and increases in food prices caused by declines in the productivity of croplands, heightened impacts of climate change globally caused by the release of carbon and nitrous oxide from degrading land, and the threat of social instability from the forced migration that will result.”
Some impacts of land degradation and desertification are:
1. Impact on climate change: Forests, trees and vegetation cover are important sinks of carbon dioxide. Land degradation, therefore, reduces the amount of carbon dioxide that is absorbed, and consequently leads to a rise in emissions.
2. Threat to food & water security: Land degradation and desertification have effects on food and water security.
3. Impact on biodiversity: Land degradation caused by factors such as extensive agriculture, deforestation and unmanaged urbanization and sprawl, is reducing the biodiversity of many land ecosystems.
The case of Pakistan
Land degradation and desertification is a serious problem globally, but it is more acute in case of Pakistan where almost three-fourths of the land is either already affected or likely to be affected.
Pakistan is among 110 countries in the world where about two-thirds of agricultural land and around 80 percent of arid and semi-arid lands are affected by land degradation, desertification and drought. According to the Sustainable Land Management Program, a project of the Ministry of Climate Change, every year, between 1.5 and 2.5 million hectares of irrigated land, 3.5 to 4 million hectares of rain-fed agricultural and 35 million hectares of rangelands are either becoming barren or non-productive due to desertification, land degradation and drought. The low-lying areas in Balochistan, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab, located directly on the banks of rivers, are facing increased problems of land degradation due to climate change impacts, floods, improper land use practices, over-grazing, deforestation and excessive removal of vegetation for fuel.
Initiatives to combat land degradation
The international community has recognized the importance of addressing the challenge of land degradation and desertification as urgent conditions for healthy ecosystems, food and water security and meeting climate change and biodiversity goals. As a result, various global initiatives have been taken to combat land degradation and desertification. Several of these initiatives include:
1. UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD): A major global agreement on issues related to land, the Convention (UNCCD) was established in 1994 to protect and restore land, and to address the phenomenon of desertification, the process through which fertile and productive land becomes degraded and unfit for useful activities like agriculture.
2. Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) Fund: Set up in 2018, the LDN Fund is an impact investment fund that invests in profit-generating sustainable land management and land restoration projects globally.
3. UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration: It aims to prevent, halt and reverse the degradation of ecosystems on every continent and in every ocean.
4. International Drought Resilience Alliance (IDRA): It is a global alliance for a drought-resilient future. IDRA mobilises political, technical and financial capital to enhance drought resilience in countries, cities and communities.
Pakistan’s initiatives
To combat desertification, land degradation and drought, the federal government has launched SLMP Phase-I in nine dry-land districts of Pakistan where over 12,000 hectares of degraded rangeland were rehabilitated through re-seeding and community based restoration of the grazing management system.
Similarly, around 8,000 hectares of additional land were brought under sustainable rain-fed agriculture and water conservation measures. Following successful implementation of SLMP Phase-I, the project was later extended to 14 desertification-prone districts under SLMP Phase-II, in 2015, to protect the fertile land from being converted into deserts.
The project was implemented in the high desertification and land degradation-prone areas of Chakwal, Bhakkar, Khushab, Layyah in Punjab; Tharparkar, Omarkot, Sanghar in Sindh, DI Khan, Lakki Marwat in KP; and Pashin, Kila Saifullah, Mastung, Katch and Lasbella in Balochistan.
However, government action alone is not enough and there is a need to foster a collaborative approach involving all stakeholders—communities, civil society, the private sector and international partners. By working together, they can combat land degradation and build a sustainable and resilient Pakistan.
Land restoration
Land degradation can be reversed through restoration and rehabilitation. Land restoration refers to the process of halting degradation or rehabilitating degraded land, typically through activities like reforestation, soil conservation and the protection of natural processes. It aims to enhance biodiversity, restore ecosystem services and mitigate climate change impacts. According to the United Nations Convention on Combating Desertification (UNCCD), “Land restoration is the ecological process to restore a natural and safe landscape for humans, wildlife, and plant communities. This process paves the way to protect our ecosystems, create economic development, help prevent natural disasters, e.g. floods, and increase soil productivity and food supplies. In short, land restoration is vital if we are to protect the environment, build resilience to drought and help feed a growing global population.”
Significance of land restoration
Reverses environmental damage: Combats land degradation, drought, and desertification.
High return on investment: Each dollar invested can yield up to USD 30 in benefits from healthy ecosystems.
Boosts communities: Creates jobs, reduces poverty and improves livelihoods.
Strengthens resilience: Helps communities better withstand extreme weather events.
Combats climate change: Increases carbon storage in soil and slows the pace of warming.
Protects biodiversity: Restoring just 15% of degraded land could prevent a significant portion of expected species extinction.
Conclusion
Prioritizing land restoration, leading to drought resilience, is important for a country like Pakistan to protect our fertile land by combating desertification so that we can ensure our food security, biodiversity, and community resilience.
It is time to realize and act before it is too late. Communities and development partners need to join hands with the government to invest in land restoration projects, making land management practices sustainable to check land degradation and enhance the ecosystem’s productivity. The reforestation efforts also need to be supported by all. It is an undeniable fact that environmental degradation and climate change are causing devastating effects on our land and its productivity, risking our food security.

The writer is an Assistant Professor of Botany.