Wetlands are vital for #biodiversity, including as critical habitats for many migratory species.
— @ipbes #LandDegradation Assessment
Yet, many of these #wetlands are now threatened.
Learn how wetlands support biodiversity with Ramsar for #WWD2025:
Two serious articles about soil degradation... 
Soils are the base of our living. And we are treating them worse than dirt.
Don't believe anybody who wants to sell you some fancy high-tech soil-less cultivation system. Expensive. Won't scale. Needs a lot of energy input. Not resilient. Does not solve our problems.
#Soil #SoilScience #LandDegradation #Desertification #SoilDegradation #Agriculture #RegenerativeAgriculture
#Agroecology
Land degradation, desertification & drought are among our most pressing environmental challenges. 
On
#DesertificationandDroughtDay
take a look at the main direct drivers of land degradation & explore our Report 
@ipbes #LandDegradation
Assessment: https://www.ipbes.net/assessment-reports/ldr
DYK there is a connection between #ClimateChange and #LandDegradation? 
It is vital to address the climate and #biodiversity crises simultaneously.
Read the @IPBES Assessment Report on Land Degradation and Restoration: https://t.co/EMdQZyPojk
Estimated 2 billion tons of #sand and #dust are entering the atmosphere per year: ‘We are in a vicious circle’
Story by Jeremiah Budin, December 11, 2023
"#Pollution and human activity have ripple effects everywhere that plants grow, and one of those effects is that there is less land for plants to grow than ever before.
"According to the United Nations, the world is losing around 386,000 square miles (by some estimates, more than Texas and New Mexico combined) of productive land per year to sand and #DustStorms — the result of #HumanActivity, as Reuters reports.
What is happening?
"The United Nations Convention to Combat #Desertification (#UNCCD) recently issued a report that called attention to the issue of land loss due to #SandStorms, which have hit large areas of #Africa and #Asia. According to the report, at least 25% of the storms could be attributed to human activity, such as #overmining and #overgrazing.
Why is this concerning?
"According to the UNCCD report, 'with impacts far beyond the source regions, an estimated 2 billion tons of sand and dust now enters the atmosphere every year, an amount equal in weight to 350 Great Pyramids of Giza.' And while sand storms are common in many regions, this new frequency and intensity are not.
“'We are in a vicious circle, where #LandDegradation is fueling #ClimateChange and climate change is exacerbating land loss in the world,' Ibrahim Thiaw, UNCCD executive secretary, told Reuters.
"Thiaw went on to explain that as the sand storms continue to make an increasing amount of land unfarmable, it affects people’s ability to get food in some of the world’s most vulnerable countries.
“'It goes well beyond individuals,' he said. 'It is affecting the entire community.'
What can be done about it?
"The UNCCD had several recommendations for steps that could be taken to prevent further land loss. For one, it said that funding needs to be increased to tackle the problem, which has drawn less attention so far than other issues caused by human-driven pollution.
"Also, new incentives are needed for the private sector to take responsibility for the land that it destroys.
"As Thiaw told Reuters, #China has been successful at combating desertification and controlling dust, by employing a #LandManagement, #restoration, and #reforestation program."
People who only talk about #CO2 are totally distracted. The current food inflation or even food crisis is a result of both climate change and land degradation. #LandDegradation is caused by deforestation, #overgrazing and #tillage. #Deforestation affects both local and global climate. It also leads to soil erosion. As farmland gets abandoned and overgrazing continues, desertification is unavoidable and local and global #climatechange will worsen. It is a vicious cycle.
What is soil fertility and how is it important?
Healthy soils sustain life. 
But land degradation leads to, among other things, the loss of #soil fertility constituting a risk to food security.
— @ipbes@twitter.com #LandDegradation Assessment
@fao@twitter.com #GlobalSoilPartnership
