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Home > Implementing SDG Target 15.3 on "Land Degradation Neutrality"

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Implementing SDG Target 15.3 on "Land Degradation Neutrality"

Development of an Indicator Based on Land Use Changes and Soil Values
[1]
This report serves as a contribution to inform and prepare the implementation of LDN in the EU. It gives an overview of the definitions and concepts behind LDN.

In September 2015, the UN General Assembly adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including target 15.3 which contains the objective to strive towards Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) by 2030. This has opened a "window of opportunity" for many countries to strengthen policies for sustainable use of land and soils and can be seen as a chance to revive EU land and soil policies, which have seen little momentum after the withdrawal of the Soil Framework Directive proposal in 2014.

This report serves as a contribution to inform and prepare the implementation of LDN in the EU. It was developed as part of the research project "Implementing the Sustainable Development Goals on Soils", carried out by Ecologic Institute on behalf of the German Environment Agency.

This report covers five focuses:

  • (i) It gives an overview of the definitions and concepts behind LDN,
  • (ii) It provides a suggestion of necessary steps and guiding questions towards the implementation of LDN at the national level,
  • (iii) It gives an overview of land and soil degradation in Europe, existing monitoring schemes and policy processes that are relevant for the implementation of LDN in Europe,
  • (iv) It summarizes the ongoing process of conceptualizing and implementing LDN in Germany and, finally, the report
  • (v) It introduces an approach for a new indicator which uses land use categories as a possible proxy indicator for LDN in Germany. Each category is assigned a certain soil value that considers the exposure to soil threats, building on the hemeroby (naturalness) concept.

With regards to (iv) and (v), a report in German ("Land Degradation Neutrality - Handlungsempfehlungen zur Implementierung des SDG-Ziels 15.3 und Entwicklung eines bodenbezogenen Indikators" [2]) has been developed within the same project. It provides more detail on the German implementation process and the concept of the developed indicator. These two reports are complementary.

  • View the full image [3]

    Steps to implement LDN on a national level

  • View the full image [4]

    Assigning Soil values for Land Use Categories based on soil threats

  • View the full image [5]

    Land degradation neutrality: balancing gains and losses

Attachments
  • PDF icon 2018-02-21_texte_16-2018_land-degration-nutrality_en.pdf
Main Link
Download: Implementing SDG Target 15.3 on "Land Degradation Neutrality" [pdf, 3 MB, English]
Ecologic Related Articles
  • Land Degradation Neutrality
  • Implementing SDG Target 15.3 in the EU and in the Member States: Exchange of Approaches to Implement "Land Degradation Neutrality" (LDN)
  • Implementation of "Land Degradation Neutrality" in Germany
  • Implementing the Sustainable Development Goals for Soils
  • Land Degradation Neutrality under the SDGs
  • Legal Instruments to Implement the Objective "Land Degradation Neutral World" in International Law
Further Links
  • Find the publication Implementing SDG target 15.3 on "Land Degradation Neutrality" at the UBA website

Citation

Wunder, Stephanie, Timo Kaphengst, Ana Frelih-Larsen, Keighley McFarland, Stefanie Albrecht (2018): Implementing SDG target 15.3 on "Land Degradation Neutrality": Development of an indicator based on Land Use Changes and soil values. Report number UBA-FB 00.

Language
English
Author(s)
Stephanie Wunder
Timo Kaphengst
Dr. Ana Frelih-Larsen
Keighley McFarland
Stefanie Albrecht
Funding
  • Federal Environment Agency (UBA), Germany
Publisher
  • Federal Environment Agency (UBA), Germany
Year
2018
Published In
UBA Texte
ISSN
1862-4804
Dimension
58 pp.
Project
Implementing the Sustainable Development Goals for Soils
Project ID
2569
Table of Contents

Summary 

Introduction 

1 Definitions and concepts 

2 Steps and guiding questions to implement LDN on a national level 

3 Implementing LDN in Europe – where are we starting from? 

4 Overview of German activities and project results 

5 References 

6 Annex I List of interviewees 

Keywords
Land Degradation Neutrality, soil, land, soil protection, sustainable land management, soil degradation, indicators, SDGs, Sustainable Development Goals, EU, Germany, Europe

Source URL (modified on 03/25/2020 - 10:32): https://www.ecologic.eu/15304

Links
[1] https://www.ecologic.eu/sites/files/presentation/2018/steps-to-ldn_0.png
[2] https://www.ecologic.eu/node/15292
[3] https://www.ecologic.eu/sites/files/presentation/2018/steps-to-ldn_1.png
[4] https://www.ecologic.eu/sites/files/presentation/2018/bodenwertigkeiten-en_0.png
[5] https://www.ecologic.eu/sites/files/presentation/2018/balancing-ldn-en_1.png