Creating an Enabling Environment for Land Degradation Neutrality and Its Potential Contribution to Enhancing Wellbeing, Livelihoods and the Environment

The UNCCD-SPI technical report “Creating an enabling environment for Land Degradation Neutrality and its potential contribution to enhancing well-being, livelihoods and the environment” provides science-based evidence on the potential contribution of LDN to enhancing the well-being and livelihoods as well as the environmental conditions of people affected by desertification/land degradation and drought. This is done by capturing evidence on the configuration of an enabling environment for LDN drawn from the scientific literature, the outcomes of the LDN target setting programme, and the experiences of individual stakeholders directly involved in LDN initiatives gathered through a global LDN survey.

An enabling environment for LDN is found to consist of inclusive policies and regulations building on already existing national plans and programmes, an LDN conducive institutional setting, access to multiple sources of finance, and an effective science-policy interface designed to inform sustainable land-based interventions. This report offers solid evidence for the critical dimensions of an enabling environment and provides key messages and policy options for stakeholders involved in national efforts to further engage in LDN planning for sustainably managing land and providing multiple benefits for the environment, human well-being, and sustainable livelihoods.