Martina Otto Head of Policy Unit, Energy Branch Coordinator Bioenergy martina.otto@unep.org

State and Perspectives of Sustainable Land Use Governance on the International Level – A View from the UN Globalands, Berlin, 27 May 2013

No global regime

Agriculture

Built Environment

Forestry

• National policies • International trade policies, WTO

• Very fragmented • REDD+ impacts on non-GHG issues

• Very fragmented • Infrastructure finance as a lever?

Recognition of the importance of land

Agenda 21, chapter 10

CSD-17/18

Jo’burg Plan of Imple-mentation

“… facilitate allocation of land to the uses that provide the greatest sustainable benefits and to promote the transition to a sustainable and integrated management of land resources.”

“… to reverse the current trend in natural resource degradation … to protect ecosystems and to achieve integrated management of land, water and living resources.” ‘”Promote programmes to enhance in a sustainable manner the productivity of land and the efficient use of water resources in agriculture … especially through indigenous and local community-based approaches.”

“Land plays a crucial role for achieving eradication of poverty.’ Decision 8/3 on integrated planning and management of land resources calls for a holistic approach, such as ecosystems management. 6 priority areas for action: • prevention/ mitigation of land degradation; • access to land and secure tenure; • critical sectors such as biodiversity, drylands, wetlands and coastal zones, coral reefs, natural disasters, and rural-urban interaction; • access to information and stakeholder participation; • international cooperation, incl CB and TT; • minerals, metals and rehabilitation of land degraded by mining.

Scientific Community UNEP – GEO-5: Chapter on Land – Status of natural resources UNEP- IRP- Land report I (forthcoming) – Competition for resources, decoupling; land management, resource efficiency and consumption patterns Since 1970 land conversion and degradation has resulted in declines of 20% of some natural habitats. Trends in both production and consumption of land-based products are increasing pressure on land resources across the globe.

On the supply side, average yield growth in agriculture is slowing, and may be further limited by soil degradation and nutrient pollution. On the demand side, changing diets and growing demand for biofuels and biomaterials by a growing population are increasing biomass consumption. Under bau, global cropland is expected to expand by 320 to 850 million hectares (roughly the size of India and Brazil respectively) between 2005 and 2050, likely at the cost of grasslands, savannah and forests, impacting related ecosystem services. This threatens the very basis for human development and well being.

Scientific Community

UNEP – Green Economy Report

Investing 0.16% of global GDP per year (198 billion USD) in sustainable agriculture over the period of 2011-2050 would lead to:

-  Improved soil quality, increased agricultural yield and reduced land and water requirements for agriculture

-  An increase in GDP and 47million jobs over the next 40 years -  Transformation of the agricultural sector from being a major GHG

emitter to being net neutral and possibly a GHG sink, while reducing deforestation and freshwater use by 55% and 35% respectively.

Recent and Ongoing Political Processes

RIO+20 Water – Food – Energy Nexus: W-F-E are essential for satisfying basic human needs; Land is central to W-F-E.

Paras 206-209 of the Rio outcome document: ‘We recognise the need for urgent action to reverse land degradation. In view of this, we will strive to achieve a land-degradation neutral world in the context of sustainable development. This should act to catalyse financial resources from a range of public and private sources. We are committed to monitoring and assessment of land degradation and reclaiming degraded lands.

SE4All HIO on Water-Food-Energy

Recent and ongoing Political Processes

SDGs / post-2015 development agenda

Guidance: Limited in number, aspirational, universal, easy to communicate, actionable, measurable. Planetary boundaries. Reflect the environmental, social and economic dimension.

Lessons learnt from the MDGs: MDG7 did increase the visibility of environmental sustainability, but did not justice to the breadth of the issues. Goals were addressed in silos

Thematic consultations: none on land directly, but linkages with: - Ecosystems - Aichi Targets - Livelihoods - Food – Sustainable systems of production - Waster – HR to Water, IWRM - Energy – SE4All

Nested approach: use of indicators!

UN proposals

UNCCD SDG proposal Sustainable Land Use for All and by All -  0 net land degradation by 2030 -  0 net forest degradation by 2030 -  drought policies implemented by 2020

UN TST - ISSUE BRIEF on desertification, land Degradation and Drought (UNCCD, FAO, UNFPA, WMO, ESCAP, WB, UN Women, UNEP, UNDP, CBD, UNOOSA, ITU)

Bridging the Science-Policy Gap on land and soil: - Establishing a global data-base in cooperation with key global institutions such as the FAO, UNEP and the GEF, to measure and monitor the extent of impacts on productivity, the environment, populations affected at local, national and regional levels. - Generating pilot projects in regions with desertification, land degradation, drought hotspots to quantify impacts of SLM and other measures. - Strengthening capacities of policy makers to access and use Earth observation (satellite images) and in-situ data to monitor the state of land.

Voluntary Guidelines on the Governance of Tenure UN  Commi(ee  on  World  Food  Security    

•  Voluntary directives on access and ownership rights •  Drawn up in a comprehensive and inclusive process,

over 6 years, involving 96 governments, NGOs and IGOs which shared the perception that a framework was severely needed; hence reasonable expectation that the guidelines will set the bar for policy-makers

•  Some criticism that the content has been watered down to secure consensus

•  Cover: Land, fisheries, forestry •  Founding principles:

- Recognise and respect all legitimate tenure rights -  Safeguard legitimate tenure rights against threats -  Promote and facilitate enjoyment of legitimate tenure rights -  Provide access to justice when tenure rights are infringed

upon -  Prevent tenure disputes, violent conflicts and opportunities

for corruption ©  Abu  Riyadh  Khan/HelpAge  Interna7onal  2005    

GBEP indicator 8: Land use and land-use change related to bioenergy feedstock production

•   Total area of land for bioenergy feedstock production, and as compared to total national surface and agricultural and managed forest land area sense of the size of the role of bioenergy in national LU

•  Percentages of bioenergy from yield increases, residues, wastes and degraded or contaminated land relates to bioenergy production that does not have dLUC

•  Net annual rates of conversion between land-use types caused directly by bioenergy feedstock production, including the following (amongst others):

o arable land and permanent crops, permanent meadows and pastures, and managed forests;

o natural forests and grasslands, peatlands, and wetlands

relates to bioenergy feedstock production causing LUC, describing the patterns in LUC

Food Waste UNEP  and  FAO  Campaign    THINK  EAT  SAVE    

Global food production uses 25% of all habitable land and is responsible for over 80% of fresh water consumption, 80% of deforestation and 30% of GHG emissions. It is the single largest driver of biodiversity loss and land use change.

As 1/3 of the food we produce is not consumed, food waste contributes directly to waste of key natural resources.

Supporting activities to the campaign: •  Creating global voluntary agreements on food waste reduction; initial sectors: retail/grocery/food manufactuing and hospitality/accomodation. • Development of a toolkit to guide food waste prevention and reduction.

©    One  Third,  Klaus  Pichler  

No appetite for a Land Convention, Opportunities under existing Conventions

Biodiversity CBD

UNCCD

Climate Change UNFCCC

• LUC=main cause of biodiversity loss • Green Development Initiative – a scheme for biodiversity-positive area management through registering or certifying biodiverse sites against the GDI; aim is to attract private sector investment into restoring ecosystems or sustainable mmt. standard. • Payments for ecosystem services

• LUC=major source of GHG emissions (~20%) • Mitigation: reabsorbing / preventing release of GHG • Adaptation: building resilience – robust ecosystems • REDD+: reduce deforestation and forest degradation through offering financial incentives to maintain the carbon stored in forests and to manage forests sustainably.

• A Protocol on Zero Net Land Degradation • Intergovernmental Panel on Land and Soil

Better

Integration

Key take-aways action areas

Bottom up – land use planning/mmt and water management as the basis

Coordinated policies – balancing drivers; inter-ministerial cooperation

Integrated systems – new business concepts

Best practices – ag extension services

Monitoring performance – taking corrective action

guiding questions How to best use a ha/drop of water?

Manage the cultivated ha/watersheds efficiently What is the best use of a ha?

Manage demand to keep land and water use within sustainable limits

What is the best use of biomass? Competing uses – assessing the alternatives

Food: address food waste Feed: changing diets

Fuels: avoid-shift-clean Biomaterials: cascading use