With the potential to stimulate sustained economic growth and
long-term social welfare, land is at the heart of some of
today's most pressing global development challenges. Across many
parts of the globe, however, degradation processes are severely
undermining land's rich potential, because land degradation has
long been a peripheral environmental concern. Marginalized in
political decision-making and budgetary allocation processes,
notwithstanding the volume of large-scale land acquisitions,
investments in sustainable land management (SLM) are still
limited and are, therefore, urgently needed to safeguard this
precious natural resource. Why invest in sustainable land
management? The UNCCD and the Global Mechanism (GM) believe that
healthy, productive land is a key component of the planet's
natural capital: productive soil, fresh water, forests, clean
air, animal life and other renewable resources underpin the
survival and prosperity of human communities. Land is central to
achieving macro-economic growth. In