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. SLM measures increase the resilience of people and ecosystems to food price volatility or to climate shocks with significant economic implications such as drought and flood. Supporting SLM can thus make significant contributions to climate change adaptation and mitigation and, ultimately, to the goal of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to keep the increase in global average temperature below 2 °C.
To deliver on these opportunities, this report The Value of Land - Prosperous lands and positive rewards through sustainable land management calls for bold policy decisions such as supporting economic, enabling and institutional conditions will be needed for the uptake of sustainable land management (SLM). From subsidy reform to the elimination of perverse incentives and the development of new markets for different ecosystem services, ELD partners believe robust economic valuation methodologies will help decision makers take the decisions that are urgently needed for the benefit of their communities. Those that do take action will leverage the huge opportunities that exist, such as securing high rates of return on investment from ecosystem rehabilitation and restoration, for example. This is not something that the public sector can do alone. Stakeholder engagement and partnerships should be fostered and investments by the private sector encouraged. Partnerships for the land and investments in the future health of the planet are economically rewarding across all sectors.
A short summary guidance is available here.