Signal Desertification convention of 1994 as a lever for land and water boundaries

Summary

The report lists international mechanisms that support recovery of the planetary boundaries, alongside the Paris Agreement and the biodiversity framework. Among them, the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, adopted in 1994, is presented as an important global policy tool for restoring the land system change and freshwater change boundaries. The report sees the convention as helping to stop land degradation and drought from growing into systemic geopolitical and food security risks. Both boundaries are currently transgressed. Forest cover under the land boundary stands at about 64 percent of potential forest against a boundary of 78 percent, and both the blue water and green water indicators for freshwater exceed their boundaries. The report also mentions regions such as East Africa, where drought and conflict together leave millions of people facing food insecurity.