Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). An international treaty adopted in 1992 with the aim of conserving biological diversity, promoting the sustainable use of its components and ensuring the equitable distribution of its benefits.
Deforestation. The conversion of forest to other land use independent of whether this process is human-induced or not.1 Many technical and scientific studies equate deforestation with tree-cover loss, without considering land-use criteria. The approach used in this report encompasses all tree cover and counts non-permanent tree-cover loss (e.g. clear-felling or temporary forest fire damage) as deforestation.2
Dietary energy. The energy provided by food and drink, measured in kilojoules or kilocalories (often referred to as calories), that the body uses to maintain basic physiological functions, health, and physical activity. Dietary energy requirements vary by age, sex, body size, and activity level, and are higher during periods of growth, pregnancy and lactation to support healthy development and maternal well-being.3
Economic loss. The reduction in economic value resulting from land degradation, encompassing both direct losses in the form of reduced agricultural output and land devaluation, and indirect losses associated with increased costs.
Ecosystem functions. The biological, chemical and physical processes within ecosystems, such as nutrient cycling and carbon sequestration, which underpin ecosystem structure and resilience.4
Ecosystem services. The direct and indirect benefits people derive from ecosystem functions, including supporting (e.g. soil formation), regulating (e.g. flood management, climate regulation), provisioning (e.g. food, water, timber) and cultural (e.g. recreational, aesthetic) services.4
Externality. A positive or negative consequence of an economic activity or transaction that affects other parties without being reflected in the price of the goods or services transacted.5
Food security. A situation in which all people at all times have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.3
Forest degradation. The long-term reduction in the overall supply of benefits from forests, including wood, biodiversity and other products and services.6
Green revolution. A period in the mid-twentieth century characterized by a dramatic surge in the production of staple food grains, notably wheat and rice. This revolution was driven largely by the widespread introduction and adoption of genetically improved, high-yielding crop varieties in developing countries.7
Healthy diets. Healthy diets comprise four key aspects: diversity (within and across food groups), adequacy (sufficiency of all essential nutrients compared to requirements), moderation (of foods and nutrients that are related to poor health outcomes) and balance (of energy and macronutrient intake). Foods consumed should be safe.3
Institutional failure. The failure of institutions – governments, markets, private property and communal management – to provide the necessary framework for development. From a sustainability perspective, institutional failure is defined in terms of the inability of institutions to conserve resources.8, 9
Land abandonment. The cessation of human use and management of land. In the context of agricultural land, this refers to land that is no longer actively used for productive purposes such as crop cultivation, livestock grazing and forestry.10–12 This distinguishes it from land that is temporarily fallow or under rotational use, where future reactivation is planned or expected.
Land cover. The observed physical cover on the Earth’s surface, including vegetation (natural or planted) and human-made constructions.13
Land degradation. Commonly referred to as a negative trend or a long-term decline and/or loss in the land’s capacity to provide ecosystem functions and services. While there is no global consensus on how land degradation should be defined or measured, FAO defines it as a reduction in the capacity of land to provide ecosystem goods and services to its beneficiaries over a period of time.14, 15 For the purposes of this report, land degradation is measured by expressing indicators for tree-cover loss, soil erosion, and below- and above-ground carbon via a debt-based approach (see “Land degradation debt”), and using these indicators in combination to monitor and assess progress in land degradation neutrality.16
Land degradation debt. A quantitative assessment that represents the total human-induced deterioration of land accumulated over time. It is determined by calculating the discrepancy between the present value of land degradation indicators and their baseline values under native ecological conditions, thereby differentiating anthropogenic impacts from natural degradation.16
Land degradation neutrality (LDN). A state whereby the amount and quality of land resources necessary to support ecosystem functions and services to enhance food security remain stable, or increase, within specified temporal and spatial scales and ecosystems.17
LDN response hierarchy. The strategic order of actions – avoid > reduce > reverse – endorsed by the UNCCD to achieve LDN, prioritizing the prevention of new degradation, minimizing ongoing degradation, and restoring degraded land only as a last resort. This approach reflects the principle that avoiding or reducing land degradation is more effective and cost-efficient than reversing it.18
Land tenure. Social contracts that define how individuals and groups access, use and control land. Land tenure can comprise both formal (written) and informal (unwritten) rules that specify who can use the land, for how long and under what conditions.19
Land use. The various ways in which people organize, manage and utilize land.13
Land-use change. The conversion of land from one use to another due to human activities. Transforming a forested area into agricultural land or urban settlements would constitute land-use change.
Land-use policies. Frameworks that guide how people use and manage land for different activities.
Cross-compliance or conditionality. Policy instruments that make incentives, such as government support payments, conditional on farmers’ adherence to specific regulations or standards, such as environmental protection, animal welfare and sustainable land management practices.
Incentive-based policies. Instruments that use financial rewards or leverage market mechanisms to correct market failures and encourage the voluntary adoption of sustainable land practices. Examples include payment for ecosystem services and conservation tenders.
Regulatory policies. Legally binding rules and standards imposed by governments to control land use and mitigate negative environmental impacts, often through mandates and prohibitions. Also known as command-and-control policies.
Macronutrients. Nutrients that provide energy and volume in our diets, and which are required in large amounts to maintain bodily functions and carry out the activities of daily life. There are three broad classes of macronutrients: carbohydrates, proteins and fats. They are a main source of dietary energy, which is measured in calories. Obtaining sufficient energy is essential for everyone to maintain body growth and development, and good health. In addition to providing energy for activity and growth, each macronutrient has very specific functions in the body and must be supplied in sufficient amounts to carry out those functions.3
Market failure. A situation in which the allocation of goods and services by a free market is not efficient, often leading to a net loss of economic value to society (i.e. the full benefits of the use of social resources are not realized). The many types of market failure include demerit goods, externalities, market power, missing markets and public goods.
Native conditions. The pre-agricultural state of soil defined using estimates of native soil organic carbon stocks and natural erosion rates, representing baseline soil health prior to human cultivation.16
Production. In the context of agriculture, the total quantity of agricultural goods produced.
Productivity. A measurement of performance that can be defined as the ratio of outputs to inputs.20
Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs). Scenarios that explore how global society, demographics and economics might evolve over the twenty-first century, influencing greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.
Sustainable land management. The use of land resources, including soils, water, animals and plants, for the production of goods to meet changing human needs while simultaneously ensuring the long-term productive potential of these resources and the maintenance of their environmental functions.21
Total factor productivity. A measurement of the total outputs of a sector relative to the total inputs of land, labour, capital and materials.22
United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). An international treaty adopted in 1994 to combat desertification and mitigate the effects of drought. The convention promotes sustainable land management and aims to achieve land degradation neutrality by avoiding, reducing and reversing land degradation, particularly in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas, through both national action and international cooperation.
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). An international treaty adopted in 1992 to address climate change by stabilizing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that prevents dangerous anthropogenic interference with the global climate.
Yield. In the context of agriculture, the output produced per unit of land.
Yield gap. The difference between the maximum attainable yield for a given crop in a specific environment and the actual yields currently achieved by farmers.
Agroecological yield gap. The difference between the maximum attainable yield for a given crop under specific agroecological conditions, such as local climate, soil type and water availability, and the actual yields currently achieved by farmers.
Statistical yield gap. The difference between the attainable yield achieved by the best-performing farmers under similar real-world conditions, accounting for socioeconomic and institutional constraints such as market access and input availability, and the actual yields currently achieved by most farmers.
Yield loss attributable to land degradation. The portion of the yield gaps directly caused by land degradation.
