The fight against climate change often centers on shifting to renewable energy sources and reducing carbon pollution—two essential actions to keep our planet’s temperature in check. But another crucial element often gets overlooked: changing the way we use land.

We’ve altered entire landscapes to produce everything from food and clothing to paper and fuel. And when we slash and burn forests, drain mangroves, or plow up grasslands, we release into the atmosphere heat-trapping carbon dioxide that plants, trees, and soil once captured and stored safely in the ground. Keeping these natural storage systems intact—and restoring those that have been degraded—can help us prevent global temperatures from increasing more than 1.5°C above historical levels, as outlined in the Paris Climate Agreement.

There is no viable global solution to the climate crisis without improving the ways we use land.





But by working together, we can prevent some of the worst impacts of climate change while still meeting the needs of people, wildlife, and wild places. Here's what we're doing to help—and what you can do.