Rising damage, caused mostly by food production, puts ability to feed planet’s growing population at risk
and storage or regrowing trees to prevent soil erosion. Many farmers fail to take these steps owing to pressure to produce, lack of knowledge, poor local governance or lack of access to resources. Yet for every $1 spent on restoration, the UN calculates a return of between $7 and $30 in increased production and other benefits.
Thiaw called for governments and the private sector to invest $1.6tn in the next decade to restore to health about 1bn hectares of degraded land – an area about the size of the US or China. This would amount to only a small proportion of the $700bn a year spent on subsidies to agriculture and fossil fuel, but would safeguard the planet’s soils, water resources and fertility.,” he told the Guardian. “There are a panoply of techniques and you don’t need hi-tech or a PhD to use them.
Thiaw said: “Modern agriculture has altered the face of the planet, more than any other human activity. We need to urgently rethink our global food systems, which are responsible for 80% of deforestation, 70% of freshwater use and the single greatest cause of terrestrial biodiversity loss.” About half of the world’s annual economic output, or about $44tn a year, is being put at risk by land degradation, according to the report. But the economic benefit of restoring degraded land could amount to between $125tn and $140tn a year, which would be about 50% more than the $93tn recorded global GDP for 2021., has taken the UN five years to compile with 21 partner organisations and represents the most comprehensive database of knowledge of the planet’s land yet.
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