As an issue, land degradation of land is much more complex than it appears. Explain in context of its relationship with climate change.

Recently, India has hosted the meeting of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification. A major
global agreement on issues related to land, the convention (UNCCD) seeks to address the
phenomenon of desertification, the process through which fertile and productive land become
degraded and unfit for useful activities like agriculture. The UNCCD meeting takes place every two
years and the ongoing one in Greater Noida is the 14th such meeting.
More about desertification-
 A variety of factors, both natural and human-induced, are known to be affecting the
productivity of land, and making them desert-like.
 Increasing populations and the resultant rise in demand for food and water, feed for cattle,
and a wide variety of ecosystem services these offer, have prompted human beings to clear
forests, use chemicals, cultivate multiple crops, and over-exploit groundwater.
 This has affected both the health and productivity of land.
 Natural processes such as rising global temperatures increase the frequency and intensity of
droughts, and changing weather patterns have put further pressure on the land.
 A recent report by the International Resources Panel, a scientific body hosted by the UN
Environment Programme, said that about 25 per cent of world’s land area has been degraded.
 Another report, by the Intergovernmental Science Policy Platform on Biodiversity and
Ecosystem Services, said that nearly 40 per cent of world’s population was being impacted
negatively because of land degradation.
 Desertification has implications for food and water security, livelihoods, migration, conflicts
and even international security.
 Changes in food habits and international trade have altered cropping patterns in many areas.
Large-scale migration to urban centres and industrial hubs has seen a heavy concentration of
populations in small areas, putting unsustainable pressure on land and water resources.
What is the Convention to Combat Desertification?
 The UNCCD is one of three Conventions that have come out of the historic 1992 Earth Summit
in Rio de Janeiro.
 The Rio summit gave rise to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) under
which countries have agreed to restrict the emissions of greenhouse gases, first through the
Kyoto Protocol of 1997 and now through the Paris Agreement that was finalised in 2015 and
becomes operational next year.
 It also gave rise to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) which too has delivered an
international arrangement to protect and use biodiversity.
 The UNCCD has not yet resulted in any international treaty or protocol to fight desertification.
What is the relationship between land degradation and climate change?
Land has always been an important conversation in the climate change debate. That is because
land affects, and is affected by, climate change.
 Forests, trees and vegetation cover are important sinks of carbon dioxide. Land degradation,
therefore, reduces the amount of carbon dioxide that is absorbed, and consequently leads to a
rise in emissions.
 At the same time, agriculture and activities such as cattle rearing contribute to emissions and
are a major source of methane which is a much stronger greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.
 Restoration of degraded land can, therefore, have major co-benefits for climate change
objectives.
Way ahead-
During the conference, India announced that it would restore 26 million hectares of degraded land
by 2030.
Working on a recent mandate of the CCD, countries are making efforts towards achieving what is
called Land Degradation Neutrality, or LDN, within their territories, and trying to ensure that the
amount and quality of land necessary to support ecosystem services and strengthen food security
remains stable or increases within time periods targeted by them.