Stepping back from the precipice: Transforming land management to stay within planetary boundaries

This special report on land – Stepping back from the precipice: Transforming land management to stay within planetary boundaries – draws on an extensive literature review to present a planetary boundaries perspective on land degradation. Land is central to seven of the nine planetary boundaries, referred to as the land-based planetary boundaries. The report focuses on these boundaries, their interlinkages, and opportunities for action.

Land is vital to Earth system processes, most directly those related to climate, biodiversity and freshwater. It is also fundamental to economic development, provides shelter, and
shapes cultural identity. However, human activities are driving land degradation worldwide, putting many of these essential functions and services at risk. Understanding land degradation in connection to other challenges like climate change and biodiversity loss, as well as human needs, is key for transforming land management in a way that considers people and nature, steering us away from irreversible harm from local to global scales.