PARIS: Unsustainable farming and deforestation are threatening the planet’s capacity to sustain human societies, the UN warned on Sunday, on the eve of international talks on land degradation and desertification.

Forest loss and degraded soils are reducing resilience to climate change and biodiversity loss, creating negative feedback loops and driving the world to a dangerous “precipice”, scientists said in a report jointly released with the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

It comes as nearly 200 nations are expected to gather in Saudi Arabia for the UN desertification summit on Monday tasked with expanding restoration efforts to restore 1.5 billion hectares of degraded land this decade.

The meeting is expected to be the largest conference on land to date and comes in the wake of a clutch of tough-fought UN negotiations on climate, biodiversity and plastics.

A report prepared by the world body highlights heavy burden agriculture places on the planet and calls for a course correction

“If we fail to acknowledge the pivotal role of land and take appropriate action, the consequences will ripple through every aspect of life and extend well into the future, intensifying difficulties for future generations,” said UNCCD Executive Secretary Ibrahim Thiaw.

‘Within Earth’s limits’

The new report highlights the heavy burden agriculture places on the planet and calls for a course correction. Farming is linked to 23 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, 80pc of deforestation and 70pc of fresh-water use.

“The expansion of agricultural land may feed more people in the short term, but it can accelerate soil degradation, biodiversity loss, and thus food insecurity in the long term,” said Thiaw and Johan Rockstrom at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in the foreword.

Beyond driving forest loss, industrialised agriculture uses huge quantities of chemicals in fertilisers and pesticides that create dead zones in waterways, harm biodiversity and increase emissions of planet-heating gases. Poor water management also depletes freshwater resources.

Drawing on 350 sources of research, the report uses the concept of planetary boundaries, the “safe operating space” for keeping the world liveable for most species.

“The aim of the planetary boundaries framework is to provide a measure for achieving human wellbeing within Earth’s ecological limits,” said Rockstrom.

“We stand at a precipice and must decide whether to step back and take transformative action, or continue on a path of irreversible environmental change,” he adds.

Published in Dawn, December 2nd, 2024