Our Scans · (LF.15) Life on Land · Weekly Summary

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In September 2015, 193 world leaders agreed to 17 Global Goals for Sustainable Development. If these Goals are completed, it would mean an end to extreme poverty, inequality and climate change by 2030.
Goal 15: Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss,

• [New] Global land degradation affects over 3.2 billion people and increases vulnerability to emerging pathogens. Businessday NG
• [New] With climate change and unchecked development threatening the fragile ecosystems of the Hindu Kush Himalaya, a new action plan grounded in Bhutan's philosophy of regenerative development has won regional consensus. The Frontier Manipur
• [New] Without a formal process within the Paris Accord to end deforestation we will continue to see destruction of ecosystems, which is all we have to remove large volumes of carbon from the atmosphere and protect the planet's biodiversity. Australian Conservation Foundation
• [New] New biodiversity targets include halving the establishment of invasive non-native species by 2030 compared with the year 2000. Edie
• [New] The Land Use Framework will help ensure that England's landscapes meet society's future needs, as the setting for people's lives, for growth, for food, energy and timber production, for recovering nature, managing climate change and for people's enjoyment and connection with nature. GOV.UK
• [New] Ecosystem degradation and collapse abroad will directly impact the UK. GOV.UK
• [New] In the water sector, 2024 price review final determinations will see new investment in the water sector over the next 5 years, with water companies planning £3 billion of investment by 2030 into nature-based solutions and increasing biodiversity. GOV.UK
• [New] Recent cuts to USAID alone put at risk more than $500 million in annual funding for global biodiversity programs. Australian Broadcasting Corporation
• [New] By 2040, a global, interoperable health data ecosystem will exist, powered by AI and secure blockchain-like technologies. Futurist Speaker on AI Leadership, Future of Work, Futu
• [New] Against chicken production in China, FCPD required 70% less land and lowered the potential for freshwater pollution by 78%. ScienceDaily
• [New] Invasive species are impacting biodiversity, degrading ecosystem function, and creating new risks to communities across the United States. USGS
• [New] A failure to quickly transition away from the use of fossil fuels could bring disastrous changes to the planet's ecosystem and result in dangerous increases in extreme weather across the globe with poor countries more vulnerable to severe impacts. Al Jazeera
• [New] Ratified in 2022, Target 2 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework mandates that countries must bring 30% of their degraded lands and waters under effective restoration by 2030. Sustainable Investor
• [New] Alongside NDCs, leaders will grapple with mobilising climate finance, including for the Brazil-led important Tropical Forests Forever Facility, finalising the rules of Article 6 on carbon markets, advancing adaptation amid worsening climate impacts and driving a just global energy transition. NewClimate Institute
• [New] In Europe, measures for IAS management are mainly established through the European Union Biodiversity Strategy 2030, which aims to halve the number of IUCN Red List of Threatened Species at risk from IAS by 2030. IUCN
• [New] Fertile land, expanding urban centers, and growing innovation ecosystems point to a future in which Africa could become one of the world's most competitive industrial regions. IT News Africa | Business Technology, Telecoms and Star
• [New] Home to some of the world's most biodiverse and resilient reefs, the Solomon Islands rely on reef ecosystems for food security, coastal protection and economic opportunity. UNEP - UN Environment Programme
• [New] 90% of disasters in the last decade were water-related, and with increasing disruption of the hydrological cycle by both climate change and human activity, floods, storms and droughts are increasingly affecting water management, economic development and natural ecosystems. Devpolicy Blog from the Development Policy Centre
• [New] Scientists from Duke University have developed a model that can predict the amount of mercury being released into a local ecosystem by deforestation and small-scale gold mining. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
• [New] Collaboration will help accelerate progress for nature in Nigeria by connecting private sector leadership with national biodiversity and climate priorities turning global goals into national action. Peoples Daily Newspaper
• [New] Europe's drying trend will have far-reaching impacts, hitting food security, farming and water-dependent ecosystems, especially groundwater-fed habitats. The Guardian

Last updated: 08 December 2025