Land degradation is costing the world as much as $10.6tn every year, equivalent to 17% of global gross domestic product, a report has warned.

More than half of the world’s arable land is moderately or severely degraded, according to a report published on Tuesday by the Economics of Land Degradation (ELD) Initiative (pdf). The report estimates the cost of this environmental destruction, not only from lost agricultural production and diminished livelihoods, but also from the lost value of ecosystem services formerly provided by the land, including water filtration, erosion prevention, nutrient cycling and the provision of clean air.

Land degradation – decreased vegetation cover and increased soil erosion – also means that land is less able to store carbon, contributing to climate change. Land use changes represent the second biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions after fossil fuel combustion, the study says.

“Burgeoning populations with shifting demographics and distributions are increasing the demands on land to produce food, energy, water, resources and livelihoods,” the report says.

Desertification, the result of climate change, is having a profound effect on migration. Karmenu Vella, European commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, said that land degradation and desertification is forcing hundreds of thousands to move from their homes. A study by the UN’s Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), which was cited by the authors of the ELD report, found that the process may drive an estimated 50 million people from their homes in the next 10 years.

“Climate change is even one of the root causes of a new migration phenomenon. Climate refugees will become a new challenge – if we do not act swiftly,” European commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said last week.

If sustainable land management was rolled out around the world, as much as $75.6tn could be added to the global economy every year through jobs and increased agricultural output, the report said.

As much as 2bn hectares of arable land could be rehabilitated and used for agricultural production, according to Louise Baker, coordinator of external relations at the UNCCD.



“We should look at realigning the incentive structure that we have away from incentives that degrade the land to those that promote sustainable management,” said Baker, who listed agroforestry, terracing on sloping lands, water harvesting and appropriate crop selection as examples of good land management.

The report notes that the economic gains from arable land are often overlooked in favour of foreign investment or land grabs. “This divergence is likely to widen as land scarcity increases and land becomes increasingly seen as a ‘commodity’,” the report says.

The sustainable development goals (SDGs), due to be agreed in New York later this month, will seek to “halt and reverse land degradation” over the next 15 years.

Boosting the protection of land would advance other elements of the post-2015 development agenda, said Zafar Adeel, director of the UN’s University Institute for Water, Environment and Health.



“We could very easily argue that sustainable land management is very relevant to achieving half of the SDGs, if not more,” Adeel said, listing food security, poverty reduction and water resource management as goals that would benefit from better land management.



The report says: “Ensuring the implementation of more sustainable land management is of critical importance considering the vast environmental and socio-economic challenges we are collectively facing – from food, water, and energy security and malnutrition, to climate change, a burgeoning global population, and reduction in biodiversity, ecosystems, and ecosystem services.”

The report is the culmination of four years’ research by 30 research and policy institutions led by the UN University’s Institute for Water, Environment and Health and the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research’s (CGIAR) Research Programme on Dryland Systems. The research was funded by Germany’s Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, the European Commission and the Korean Forest Service.