The Value of Land: Prosperous Lands and Positive Rewards through Sustainable Land Management

Understanding the cost of inaction and beneftis of action are important in order for all stakeholders to be able to make sound, informed decisions about the amount and type of investments in land they make. Even though techniques for sustainable land management are known, many barriers remain and the financial and economic aspects are often put forward as primary obstacles. If the full value of land is not understood by all stakeholders, it may not be sustainable managed, leaving future generations with diminished choices and options to secure human and environmental well-being.
A better understanding of the economic value of land will also help correct the imbalance that can occur between the financial value of land and its economic value.

# An ELD study conducted across 42 countries in Africa found that taking action on soil erosion over 105 million hectares would save up to USD 62.4 billion in net present value over the next 15 years.
# Adopting sustainable land management could deliver up to USD 1.4 trillion in increased crop production.
# Cost-effective carbon storage, whereby carbon stocks in land and soil are enhanced, can create value up to USD 480 billion and increase food and water security.
# 60 per cent of the Earth’s land surface is managed, and approximately 60 per cent of that is agricultural land use
# Estimates of the extent of land degradation vary, but approximately one third of the world’s arable land is thought to have been affected by degradation and desertification to date, indicating that it is widespread, on the rise, and occurring in all land cover types and agro-ecologies4, and especially so in drylands
# Novel estimates from the ELD Initiative of the global loss of ecosystem service values (ESV) place the cost between USD 6.3 and 10.6 trillion annually ( see chapter 3A)

Keywordseconomic development, sustainable land management, land economic value, SDGs targets, ecosystems restoration, land restoration, facts and figures, sustainable land management, success stories